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Teachers' Manual 

To Accompany 

Easy Road to Reading 




worn 

CHICAGO 



CAKNAHAH 

MEW YORK 







Glass 
Book 



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Copyright^? 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



TEACHERS' MANUAL 

To Accompany 

Easy Road to Reading 



BY 
CARRIE J. SMITH 

Fort Atkinson/* Wis. 



AND 

ELLA D. HOWE 

■ 

Primary Teacher, Columbus, Ohio 



Lyons and Carnahan 
Chicago New York 



Copyright 1914 
Lyons & Carnahan 



'+*- 



ro 



MAY 17 1915 

©CI. A 401158 

4v*> h 






PREFACE 

The Easy Road to Reading Primer and First Reader 
are for the child. Every word on every page is for the 
child to read. Suggestions for seat work, phonic drill, 
and other material intended for the teacher are entirely 
eliminated from the child's book and placed in this 
Manual, which is the teacher's book. 

The method by which learning to read is made easy 
to the child is itself simple and easy of application. The 
authors have not felt that formal, learned discussions 
of abstruse pedagogical theories would be of great assist- 
ance to the teacher in her effort to secure practical results 
in teaching the daily lessons. They have therefore con- 
tented themselves with a brief, informal explanation of 
the general principles underlying the method, followed at 
once by detailed suggestions for each of the lessons. 
These suggestions are definite in character. The authors 
have not suggested pedagogical truths in a broad, vague 
manner, leaving the application of them largely to the 
teacher, but have given, in connection with each lesson, 
material ample to insure effective results. The teacher 
may enlarge on the suggestions given or vary them. 

Chapter VI of the Manual is devoted to a systematic 
development of phonics. The phonic scheme is a related 
part of the general plan of the book, and is outlined 
lesson by lesson. 

The use of perception cards is provided for in the 
outline of the lessons which constitutes the first part 
of the Manual. These cards can be secured from the 
publishers. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

I. Beading from the Blackboard 

The Beginner's Work in Reading 
The Teacher's Task .... 

Written Forms 

The Thought 

The Written and Dramatized Expression 
Oral Expression ..... 

The Lessons in Detail .... 
(Pages 7 to 21 of the Primer.) 

Drill Devices 



Review Sentences 



II. Transition from Script to Print 
From Board to Book . 
Perception Cards .... 
Card Drill 



PAGE 

7-10 

7 
7 
8 
8 
9 
10 

11-19 

20-24 
24-25 

26-28 
26 

27 
27 



III. Lesson Stories 

(Pages 22 to 66 of the Primer.) 

General Review Sentences 



IY. 



V. 



VI. 



Connected Stories . 

(Pages 68 to end of Primer.) 



Dramatization . . . . . 
Value of Dramatization 
Detailed Suggestions (for the Primer) 

Phonics 

The Aim of Phonic Work 

Time for Beginning Phonic Work 

Preparatory Phonic Games . 

A Method of Teaching the Sounds 

The First Sounds Taught . 

Phonic Drills 



29-45 

46-53 
54-59 

60-71 

60 
60 

72-101 

72 
72 

73-75 
75 
75 

76-78 



6 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Phonetic Lessons 78-79 

Drill Charts . . 79-87 

(Detailed Suggestions for Pages 11 to 57 of the 
Primer.) 

The Sounds of the Vowels 87 

Some Phonic Eules 88-89 

Learning the Names of the Letters .... 90 

Phonic Summary . . . . . . . . 90 

Families 91 

First Eeader Phonics 91-97 

Second Eeader Phonics 97 

Prevalence of Long and Short Vowel Sounds . . 97 

Occasional Vowel Sounds 98 

Suggestive Lesson for Teaching the Macron and the 

Breve 98-99 

A Type-Lesson for Teaching the Occasional Sounds . 100 

Suggestive Lists for the Other Sounds . . . 101 

Word Building 101 

VII. Seat Work 102-105 

(Correlated with Eeading.) 

Seat Work 105-107 

(Correlated with Color and Form Work.) 

Seat Work 107-110 

(Correlated with Numbers.) 

Use of Words Printed on Cards 109 

VIII. Additional Suggestions on How to Use the Action 

Words, Ehymes, and Pictures .... 111-114 

Action Words Ill 

The Ehyme 112-114 

The Picture . .. 114 



CHAPTER I 
READING FROM THE BLACKBOARD 

The Beginner's Work in Reading 

The main purpose of the beginning work in reading 
is to establish in the child's mind the connection between 
some of the words in his spoken vocabulary and their 
written and printed forms. By one means and another, 
by varied devices and thorough drill, the child must be 
made so familiar with the written and printed symbols 
that when he sees either script or print he shall instantly 
think the word and give it utterance or translate it into 
action, whichever the judgment of the teacher requires. 
This he must be able to do both when he sees the word 
singly and when combined with other familiar words in 
easy sentences. Any appreciable hesitation in this rec- 
ognition is a certain indication that more drill is required. 

The Teacher's Task 

The teacher who constantly keeps in mind this object- 
ive (the ready recognition on the part of the child of all 
words taught), who rigidly holds herself to the adminis- 
tration of varied and effective drill, who refuses to yield 
to the temptation that besets so many, to wit, to pass to 
new lessons before the old are thoroughly mastered, — 
the teacher who has strength of mind and purpose to do 
this may easily spell success in teaching beginners to 



8 EASY ROAD TO READING 

read. The one who accepts as satisfactory the word 
spoken not at once, but after slow, painful struggles, will 
never teach reading, even though she goes through the 
motions for years. It cannot be too strongly emphasized 
that recognition of the words at sight is the sine qua non 
of successful work in learning to read. If this thought 
is repeated many times in this Manual it is because it is 
of such primal importance. 

Written Forms 

The teaching of the recognition of written forms 
usually precedes that of printed forms. The reason for 
this is not far to seek. Nothing can equal the teaching 
effectiveness of the live teacher and, the blackboard. The 
crayon that talks and the teacher who makes the crayon 
talk are two factors unequaled in potency in aiding the 
child in acquiring a vocabulary of written forms. Most 
teachers give from twenty to thirty lessons in reading 
from the blackboard before placing the Primer in the 
hands of the child. In these blackboard lessons, the order 
of procedure is as follows : 

1. Awaken the idea or thought in the mind of the child. 

2. Get the spoken word or sentence. 

3. Present the written form. 

4. Require the oral (or dramatized) expression of the word or 
sentence. 

The Thought 

It is absolutely necessary to pleasing, expressive oral 
reading that the thought be in the mind of the reader. 
In this beginning work, this thought may be awakened 
by various means. A story may be told, a picture shown, 
questions may be asked, the actions performed or sug- 



BEADING FEOM THE BLACKBOARD 9 

gested or objects presented, depending upon the nature 
of the thought to be awakened. 

This may be illustrated from page 7 of the Primer. 
We wish to teach the word come. 

Teacher. We are going to play a new game. I am 

sure it is new to you, because whenever I hear children 

playing they always talk, sometimes all at once. But in 

the first part of this game, none of you will talk; and 

neither will I, except to get you started. 

(This preliminary talk may be elaborated at the pleasure of the 
teacher.) 

Now I am going to play that I cannot talk and I want 
to see who will be the first to know what I want you to 
do without my saying a word. 

(Teacher gets every eye focused on herself, then beckons with the 
hand, looking at one child, the least timid. She does this to each one, 
in silence, until all the class have gathered about her.) 

You may all go back to your places. 

(Teacher again beckons one child.) 

Now w^e can all talk. Mary, tell me in one word what 
my hand told you to do. 

(Beckons another child.) 

Tell me what my hand told you to do. 

(This should be repeated until each child has said "Come" in 
response to the awakened thought.) 

the Written and Dramatized Expression 

Teachee. Now I am going to make my hand and the 
chalk say just what my hand alone said to you. 

(Writes the word Come on the board.) 



10 EASY ROAD TO READING 

Mary, do what the chalk says. 
(Writes the word again.) 

John, do what the chalk says. 

(Repeats for each child.) 

It is important that the word be written in various 
places on the board and in different sizes so that the chil- 
dren shall not regard any particular place or size as an 
essential of the written form. 

Oral Expression 

(The teacher writes the word Come upon the board.) 

James, what does the chalk say? 

(Writes the word again.) 

What does the chalk say, Henry ? 

(Repeats for each child, using colored crayons to secure variety.) 

Caution 

Self-activity on the part of the pupil is an essential 
to thorough work. This means that each child must 
be made to think the word for himself before he utters 
it, not echo what another has said. Mere parrot-like 
repetition of another's words will never teach a child 
to read, although it may teach him to call at sight a 
certain number of words. Growth is a result of the 
activity of the child's own mind; it comes from within, 
not without. The teacher of primary reading cannot 
repeat this fact to herself too often, for if she does not 
keep it in mind as a guiding principle her house will be 
built upon the sand. 



THE LESSONS IN DETAIL 11 

THE LESSONS IN DETAIL 
Page 7, Primer 

First teach the word come as described in the fore- 
going. 

Go 

Teacher. Jack went out with some other little boys 
to play ball. After they had played for some time and 
some were rather tired of the game, Jack said, 6 ' I know 
what would be fun. Do you see that big tree over yonder? 
Let's run a race and see who will touch it first. All stand 
in line and I will be the starter. ' ■ So all the boys stood in 
line to start. When they were all ready, Jack said, ' i One, 
two, three," — "Who knows the last word he said? 

(Let a child supply the word.) 

Have two of the class walk a race to the window or 
table, another child starting them by supplying the last 
word after the teacher says, ' ' One, two, three — ' ' 

Have two others walk a race, the teacher saying ' ' One, 
two, three, " then writing the word Go on the board to 
start them. 

After drilling thoroughly on the ready recognition of 
the written form of the word go, review come, until both 
words are perfectly familiar. 

And 



Show the picture on page 7 of the Primer. 
Teacher. The little girl with the red bow in her haii 
lives in the white house at the foot of the hill. One daj 



12 EASY ROAD TO READING 

she met one of her little friends on the top of the hill. 
She wanted her playmate to go with her to play. She 
asked her over and over again. Finally she took hold of 
her hand and said, pointing to her home, ' ' Come and go ! ' ' 
"Come and go!" Then her playmate said she would go, 
and they ran merrily down the hill. 

Write on the board (in different places) what the 
little girl said and have each child read it in turn, until all 
recognize it. Then ask one child to find come, another go, 
another and. Then write and by itself and call on child 
to give it and drill on this word until all are familiar 
with it. 

Page 8, Primer 

The three action words in this lesson are easily intro- 
duced by means of a story. 

Jump 

Teacher. Once there was a little boy who had a dog 
named Eover. The little boy had taught Eover to do 
many tricks. He would throw a ball as far as he could. 
Then Eover would run after it and bring it back. Eover 
would roll over, stand in the corner on his hind legs, and 
do many other funny things. But Eover liked best of all 
to jump over a stick which the little boy held out. Many 
times a day when they were playing together, the little boy 
would find a stick, hold it out straight in front of him, and 
say to Eover, "....!" (Let a child supply the one word.) 
Over Eover would go, happy as he could be. Then the 
boy would raise the stick a little higher, and say again to 



THE LESSONS IN DETAIL 13 

Eover, " . . . . !" Eover thought this great fun. Some- 
times the little boy would simply hold his arm out and 
say to Eover, " . . . . !" and over the dog would go. 

It is to be assumed without further statement that after the 
thought is awakened in the child's mind, the written form will be placed 
on the blackboard and drill and review will follow in every case. 

Run 

Sometimes the boy and Eover would run a race. 
Eover would never run until his master told him to do so. 
They would get ready, Eover watching his master very 
closely, and when he said, "....!" (child supply the 
word), off they would start. 

Hop 

John, you may stand on one foot. Come to me. How 
can you come to me without putting down your other 
foot? (Child answers.) 

Page 9, Primer 



Teacher. John, you may jump. Who jumped? 
(Child answers.) Mary may run. Mary, who ran? (Child 
answers.) Henry, come here. Who came, Henry? (Child 
answers.) Jack, you may hop. Who hopped, Jack? 
(Child answers.) 

The teacher then writes I on the board and asks the 
children to read it. After this word is familiar, review 
it with come, go, and, run, jump, hop. 



U EASY ROAD TO READING 

Page 10, Primer 
We 

Teacher. Two little girls went out to play. They 
ran to an old apple tree which grew near. Their mother 
called after them, i ' What are you going to do ? " " Play 
keeping house/' they answered. "Who will build your 
house ? ' ' she asked. i ' We will, ' ' said the girls. ' ' Who ? ' ' 
she called again. "....," they answered back. After 
they were tired of playing house, they got a rope and 
began to jump. One swung the rope and both jumped. 
A boy came along and called out to them, "Who can 
jump?" They were almost out of breath, but both called 

out, " " Write the word we on the board and drill 

upon it. 

Skip 

Teacher. One day the girls went for a walk in the 
woods. As they were walking along, talking about their 
dolls and the new dresses they were going to make for 
them, they heard a little noise in a bush near by. They 
stopped and listened. They heard nothing more and were 
going on again when right in front of them ran a little 
gray rabbit. Before they could say a word, up the path 
he ran with a hop and a skip and a jump. Mary may hop 
as the rabbit did. John may skip. Henry may jump. 
James may go across the room with a hop, skip, and a 
jump. John may do what the chalk says. (Writes jump.) 
James, what can John do ? Mary may do what the chalk 
says, (Writes skip.) John, what can Mary do? 



THE LESSONS IN DETAIL 15 

Play 
Suggested Questions : 

What do children like to do best of all? 

What do you do at recess? 

What do you do after school when all your work is 
done? 

What do you do with your dolls? Your dog? Your 
kitten? Your brothers and sisters? 

It may be that the first question will not bring the 
word play in response. If not, tell the pupils to guess 
again. When the right word is given, emphasize it by 
asking other questions that will bring the same word, 
being careful to make each child think the word, not 
merely echo it. 

Page 12, Primer 

To me 

It is best to introduce the word to (or any other prepo- 
sition) in a sentence. The thought may be awakened by a 
process similar to the following : 

(The teacher places one member of the class at some distance 
from her.) 

Teachek: "Jane, if you want me to come to you, 
how can you tell me without saying a word?" 

Jane beckons. (If the first child called upon cannot do this, try 
others, until one is found who can do it.) 

Teacher : ' i Jane, what did you say to me with your 
hand? Mary, what did Jane say to me with her hand?" 

(After each one gives the sentence Come to me, it should be writ- 
ten on the board and read or acted each time.) 



16 EASY ROAD TO READING 

After the sentence Come to me has been spoken many 
times and has been read from the blackboard until all 
recognize it at sight, both by action and by reading, quick, 
snappy drill should be given in recognition of to and me 
singly, then combined with run, jump, hop, and other 
known words. 

Pages 13, 14, and 15 are review pages. 

Page 16, Primer 
To-day Like 

The new words in this lesson are introduced by means 
of a rhyme. The rhyme may be taught through a story 
similar to the following: 

One day in spring when the sky was blue and the sun 
was shining bright, little James asked his mamma to let 
him put on his Indian suit. As the air was warm she 
told him he could. How fine he looked, with the bright 
red feathers on his head! As he ran out-of-doors he 
called to his sister Mary, 

"Come and hop 
And jump to-day." 

She ran about with him in the bright sunshine, happy 
to be out-of-doors. Across the street they saw little John, 
a neighbor's boy. They hopped and jumped along, call- 
ing out to him, 

"Come and hop 
And jump to-day, 
We like to run 
And skip and play." 



THE LESSONS IN DETAIL 17 

He took hold of Mary's hand and all three hopped and 
skipped along singing, 

"Come and hop 
And jump to-day, 
We like to run 
And skip and play." 

After the rhyme has been written on the board and 
fixed thoroughly by much repetition, the new words 
to-day and like may be singled out for special drill, thus : 

to-day 

Teacher : When does James want Mary to come and 
hop and jump? 

(Child answers.) 

Charles, find to-day on the board. 

(The teacher writes the word in another place.) 

What is this word? Find to-day in two places. 

(The teacher writes Jump to-day and asks a child to read it; 
writes We play to-day, and asks a child to find play, jump, and to-day ; 
asks another child to find to-day in three places; and so on.) 

like 

Teacher: What do James and Mary like to do? 
What do you (pointing) and you (pointing) and you 
like to do? 

The teacher writes on the board the sentence: We like to play, 
(or run, or hop). She then erases like, leaving: We to play. 

John, what word have I left out ? 

(The child answers. The teacher writes the word like by itself and 
calls on some pupil to give the word. She then writes the sentence 



18 EASY ROAD TO READING 

I like to jump, and calls on one pupil to read it, another to point to the 
word like, the word jump, the word to, and so forth.) 

Pages 17, 18, and 19 are review pages. 

Page 20, Primer 

Boys Girls Want 

This rhyme may be taught in a manner similar to that 
used in the development of page 16. Children never tire 
of instruction in story form, so the teacher need not fear 
that she will overwork this device. The following story 
is suggested: 

One day when it was raining, a little girl named Mary 
was playing with her dolls. She had been so busy dress- 
ing and undressing them that she did not notice that the 
sun had come out and had dried up all the little pools of 
water, until she heard a sound of many voices shouting 
outside. She jumped up and ran to the window. There 
were two little boys and two little girls dancing around 
in a circle singing, 

"Boys and girls 
Come and play, 
We want to hop 
And jump to-day." 

Mary did not wait even to put on her hat, but ran 
out and joined the happy circle, and at once she, too, 
began singing, 

"Boys and girls 
Come and play, 
We want to hop 
And jump to-day." 



THE LESSONS IN DETAIL 19 

Then they all joined hands in a straight line and 
hopped and skipped down to the next house where two 
little boys and a girl lived, and all sang out, 

"Boys and girls 
Come and play, 
We want to hop 
And jump to-day." 

This mav- be continued until all are familiar with the 
rhyme. The written form on the board, and the reading, 
follow. The individual words boys and girls may be 
taught by asking a boy to read the first line, then asking 
him to draw a line under the word boys, and a girl to 
draw a line under the word girls. Then drill on the words 
separately and together by varied devices. 

Want may be taught in a manner similar to the word 
like on page 16. 

The method of teaching by the use of the rhymes is 
further discussed in Chapter VIII. 



The child is now familiar with the written forms of 
seventeen words : Come, me, run, jump, hop, I, skip, like, 
we, play, to, to-day, boys, girls, want, and, and go. If the 
teacher desires to take up a few more before putting the 
Primer in the hands of the child, there is no objection, 
but it is not necessary. 

It is to be assumed that the forms of these words 
have been thoroughly fixed in mind by varied devices in 
drilling upon separate words and by combining the words 
in all possible ways. 



20 



EASY KOAD TO READING 



DRILL DEVICES 

For review of words, a few devices are here sug- 
gested. The resourceful teacher will think of many more 
equally good or better. The best device is the one which 
utilizes the child's present interest as far as possible, is 
simple enough to admit of rapid execution, and does not 
detract from the real work, which is the ready recogni- 
tion of words. 



\u 



me 



to 



want 



like 



go 



come 



MJ 



"V 


"^ 




me 




\ 




k 




come 




\ 


\ 




to 




\ 






S 




\ 


like 




\ 


\ 






\ 


\ 


go 



Ladder. Draw a picture of a ladder with six rungs. Write the 
words come, to, want, like, go, me, one word on each rung. Call upon 
the pupils to go up and down the ladder quickly without making 
mistakes. 

(Diagrams which can be drawn quickly are best for this work. 
For the ladder, for instance, only eight lines are necessary, — one for 
each side of the ladder and one for each rung.) 

Stairway. Draw a picture of a stairway or a skeleton side view 
suggesting a stairway with five steps. Write the words me, come, to, 
like, go, one word on each step. Call upon the pupils to go up and 
down the stairs without stumbling. 

Clock. Draw a large circle on the blackboard. Around the circum- 
ference write boys, girls, go, play, run, jump, hop, skip, come, I, me, 
we, writing these 12 words in the positions that would ordinarily be 



DRILL DEVICES 



21 



occupied by the 12 numerals on the clock face. Draw two clock hands, 
one pointing to boys and the other to play and call upon some pupil to 

^^boys«^ 
we girls 

me 1 go 

come run 

skip jupip 

tell what the clock says. Erase the hands and draw them in again 
pointing to two other words. Continue this until all the words have 
been drilled upon. 

Toboggan slide. Draw a picture of a tobog- 
gan slide with several children sliding upon it. 
Give the children names of words that the 
pupils should know and call upon the pupils to 
COine read the names. 

Marbles. Sketch a number of marbles on 
the board, naming them ive, run, go, I, come, me, 
like, etc. 




we 



run 



g° 



me 



like 



me' 



come 




jump 




ru £Ux, 



Apple tree. Draw a picture of an apple tree bearing six or eight 



22 



EASY ROAD TO READING 



apples, naming the apples like, we, want, come, go, and other words that 
the pupils know. 

Christmas tree. This device is similar io that of the apple tree, 
but various kinds of presents appear upon it instead of apples, each 
present bearing the name of a different word such as jump, I, run, 
hop, go. 

Footballs. Footballs are quickly and easily drawn. Draw a 
number of footballs, writing a word on each one of them, and use the 
device in any manner that seems desirable. The footballs are probably 
better than marbles, because in case of footballs they can be made large 
enough so that the word can be written right upon the ball in each case. 




Building a fort. Build a fort, one stone at a time, each stone 
being an oblong with a word written in it. There could be four stones 
on the bottom named go, want, jump, and hop; three above them named 
come, run, and skip; above them two stones named me and like; and on 
the very top a single stone named to, the whole being built pyramid style. 

Flags. Draw a number of flags on the board quickly. Above 
each write one word. 

Jack o' lanterns. These are used the same as the drums and the 
footballs. This device is good because the Jack o' lanterns can be drawn 
quickly and appeal to the children. Name them play, run, come, skip, 
and jump. 



DEILL DEVICES 



23 



Autumn leaves. Draw a number of leaves, coloring each one of 
them differently. Then name the leaves. Call upon the children to give 



play 



want 





like 



the name of the red leaf, the blue leaf, the green leaf, the white leaf, 
and so on. 




Drums. See comments above on footballs. 




run 



Tag, prisoner's goal, or pussy wants a corner. Draw a num- 
ber of trees and posts on the board. Beside each post or tree draw in 



24 



EASY ROAD TO READING 



the picture of a child. Give the children such names as come, go, run, 
skip, and have the children play a game with them, using your ingenuity 
to bring out the words. 




Fishing. This is a very good device. Draw a picture of a child 
sitting on the bank of a stream with a fishing line. In the water are 
the fish, each fish with a different name. Have as many fish as there are 
words now in the child's vocabulary and let this lesson be a general 
review of the entire vocabulary. 



REVIEW SENTENCES 

After page 8. 

Come and jump. Come and hop. 

Jump and run. Go and jump. 

Run. 



After page 9. 

I run and hop. 
I come and jump. 
Jump and hop. 

After page 10. 

I skip and hop. 
We come and jump. 
Skip and hop. 
We come and skip: 



I come and hop. 
I run and jump. 
I jump and hop. 

I come and skip. 

Hop and skip. 

Skip and jump. 

Come and skip and jump. 



REVIEW SENTENCES 



25 



After page 11. 

Come and play. 

I jump and play. 

I run and jump and play. 

Play and run and jump. 

After page 12. 

Hop, skip, and jump to me. 
Run to me and jump. 

After page 16. 

Run and jump to-day. 
We like to play. 
We like to skip and jump. 
We hop and skip to-day. 
I like to run. 

After page 20. 

Boys, come to me. 
Girls, come to me. 
Boys, go. 
Girls, go. 

Boys, come and play. 
Girls, run and play. 
Boys want to play to-day. 
I want to run and play. 
We jump and run to-day. 
Boys, come and play. 



Go and jump. 
We run and skip. 
We run and play. 



Hop to me and skip. 
Come to me and jump. 



We like to hop. 
Hop and skip to me. 
I like to run to-day. 
Come and run to-day. 



Girls, go and play. 

I want to go and play. 

We want to skip and jump 

to-day. 
I like to jump. 
Boys like to run and play. 
Girls like to jump. 
Boys want to run. 
We like to skip and jump. 



CHAPTEE II 

TRANSITION FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT 

After the mastery of the written forms of from 
fifteen to twenty-five words, the child is ready to read 
from the book. The transition from script to print is 
not difficult, especially if the teacher's board hand be 
upright and round. It is neither advisable nor necessary 
for the teacher to place printed forms upon the board, 
for even with much practice she acquires little facility in 
making these forms. The process is necessarily slow 
and labored and the resulting forms usually far from 
satisfactory. Added to this is the disadvantage that 
comes from the loss of concentrated attention on the 
part of the class. Neither is it desirable to have chil- 
dren learn to print, for it is an accomplishment of little 
or no value. The time and energy necessary to acquire it 
might be better devoted to learning to write, fully as 
easy an art to learn and of much greater permanent 
value. 

Prom Board to Book 

"Write the word Come on the board. Have a child 
read it. Show a card with this word printed on it. Place 
it next to tbe written form on the board. 



Come 



j&?ne 



&0: 

Ask some child to read the word on the card. Ask 
another to find the same word on page 7 of the Primer; 

26 



TRANSITION FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT 27 

another to find come in another place, and so on. Then 
point to the word in the book and ask a child what it is. 

Perception Cards 

These cards are made of strong manila paper. Their 
size permits the use of a large, bold-faced type that can 
be easily read. The word is printed on one side begin- 
ning with a small letter and on the other with a capital. 

Card Drill 

After the class knows a few words, even three or four, 
the cards furnish effective drill in sight recognition. 
The resourceful teacher will think of various ways in 
which they may be used, so that the drill need not become 
monotonous and mechanical. It may be well to repeat 
here that drill that is merely parrot-like repetition has 
no value in fixing a vocabulary. To be effective it must 
always be accompanied by intelligence on the child's 
part — he must think the word, that is, really recognize it, 
or it does not become a part of his vocabulary. Mere lip 
repetition will accomplish little. 

Suggestive Drills. 

1. A quick glance at the card and instant recognition. 

2. Card shown. Pupils give word in concert. 

3. "Card shown. One child called on to give the word 
after the card is shown, not before. 

Note. To hold the attention of the whole class, no name should 
be called until the question is asked or requirement made; when all 
expect to be called upon, all will pay attention. If the teacher focuses 
on one by calling' the name first, the others know they have nothing to 
do and they are therefore likely to be inattentive. 



28 EASY EOAD TO READING 

4. One child acts as teacher. 

(This presupposes that the teacher has previously selected the cards 
for drill.) 

5. Cards making a sentence are given to the neces- 
sary number of children, care being taken to have the 
capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and to call 
for the words in their proper order. The children stand 
in front of the class with their cards behind them. At a 
given signal they hold their cards in front of them. Class 
read in concert or one child reads. 

6. One child is given more than one card and asked to 
find a certain word. The group of cards is then passed 
to another child, who is asked for another word; and 
so on. 

7. A word is written on the board and a child is asked 
to find it in a group of three or more cards and then 
read it. 

8. A card is shown, and class is instructed to find 
the word on a designated page of the book. 

9. The class "spells down" with the cards. Pupils 
"race" with each other to see who can read the words 
on a group of cards in the shortest time, the teacher keep- 
ing time. 



CHAPTER III 

LESSON STORIES 

After the book has been placed in the hands of the 
child, the order of lesson development is the same as 
with the blackboard reading, with two additional steps: 

1. Awakening of the idea (single word) or thought (sentence). 

2. Oral or dramatized expression of the idea or thought. 

3. Written form. 

4. Oral or dramatized expression. 

5. Printed form. 

6. Oral or dramatized expression of the printed form. 

The following directions for awakening the thought 
are merely suggestive. The teacher will have to be 
guided by her judgment as to when it is best to use the 
story, when the question or object or picture. 

Page 22, Primer 

It was recess time. Just as the children were going 

out of the door the teacher said to them, 

"Girls and boys, 
Run and play;" 

and the children were only too glad to do as they were 
told. All were having a good time, especially two little 
boys" who were jumping and skipping near the school- 
yard gate. 

Two of the little girls saw them and called out, 

"We want to skip with you to-day." 

29 



30 EASY ROAD TO READING 

The boys said, "All right. Come on!" and then the 

four began skipping about, all as happy as could be. 

Other boys and girls came out, for they remembered 

that the teacher had said, 

"Boys and girls, 
Run and play;" 

and as they saw the four skipping they called, 

"We want to skip 
With you to-day." 

Suggestions : Page 23 is a review. See also page 10 
in review. 

Suggestions for Drill 

Ehymes are an easy and pleasing way to teach new 
words to children, but they have one disadvantage, in 
that each line is not a complete sentence and therefore 
the child may get a wrong notion about the use of capi- 
tals. To counteract this, write each sentence on the 
board in one line (after the rhyme has been fixed in 
mind) : 

Boys and girls, run and play. 
We want to skip with you to-day. 

and drill on the reading of them. 

Page 24, Primer 

One Friday night when Jack's papa came home from 
the city he brought Jack a new football. Jack was so 
anxious to play with it that he could hardly wait to be 
dressed in the morning. As soon as he had his breakfast, 
he rushed out and began kicking the ball and throwing it 
as high as he could. But he soon tired of playing alone, 
even with such a fine ball, so he took it under his arm and 



LESSON STORIES 31 

ran down the street to find another boy. As he ran along 
whistling he saw a boy leaning over a fence and looking 
rather cross. 

Jack called out to him, 

"Can you come? 
Can you play? 
Can you run away to-day?" 

Instantly the boy's face brightened and he answered 
back, 

"I can come, 
I can play, 
I can run away to-day." 

Then the two little boys ran on down the street until 

they found another boy. They called out to him, 

"Can you come? 
Can you play? 
Can you run away to-day?" 

and he answered, 

"I can come, 
I can play, 
I can run away to-day." 

Page 25 is a review. 

Page 26, Primer 

Jack had a little brother four years old whose name 
was Tom. "When the warm, bright days of summer came, 
Tom would go out under the trees and play. Sometimes 
he took his dog Eover with him. Sometimes he took 
kitty and watched her play with a ball. But more often 
he took both Eover and kitty, and such a good time as 



32 EASY KOAD TO BEADING 

they had! When Tom got tired of running about he 
would sit down on the grass and say, 

"Rover and kitty 
Can run to-day, 
They like to jump 
And run and play." 

Sometimes when Jack came home from school he 
would find Tom still playing under the tree. Then Tom 
would call out to him, 

"Rover and kitty 
Can run to-day, 
They like to jump 
And run and play." 

Sentences foe Drill 

Rover and kitty can run to-day. 
They like to jump and run and play. 

Page 27, Primer 

Suggestive Questions 
What can Eover do ? 
What else can he do ? 
• What two things can he do ? 

(Ask the same questions about kitty.) 
Pages 28 and 29 are review pages. 

Page 30, Primer 

Tom's house was on a hill. Just to one side of it was 
a smooth place where Tom often took his kitten to play. 
One day his mamma tied a small piece of wood on a string 
and Tom had great fun dragging it along on the ground 
for the kitten to chase, then suddenly jerking it up in the 



LESSON STOEIES 33 

air. What a jump kitty would make to get it ! To every- 
one who passed by Tom would cry, 

"See my kitty jump to-day, 
My little kitty likes to play." 

Page 31 is a review. 

Page 32, Primer 

How little boys do hate to have it rain ! They forget 
how much good the rain may do and just think how much 
they want to go out and play. Jack and Tom had been 
on the porch a long time watching the water come down, 
not patter, patter, patter, but pour, pour, pour ! Finally 
Jack got tired of it and said, rather crossly, I fear, 

"Rain, rain, go away, 
Come again some other day, 
Boys and girls want to play." 

Then little Tom thought he would say the same thing, 
and then perhaps the rain would go away. So he looked 
out at the rain and said, 

"Rain, rain, go away, 
Come again some other day, 
Boys and girls want to play." 

They said it many times, first Jack and then Tom, 

but it kept on raining for some time. At last the boys 

began to play something and forgot all about the rain, 

until Jack happened to look up and saw the sun peeping 

out. He rushed to the door and said, 

"Rain, rain, go away, 
Come again some other day, 
Boys and girls want to play." 



34 EASY KOAD TO BEADING 

And this time the rain did go away, and he and Tom 
went out to play. 

Page 33 is a review. 

Page 34, Primer 

The picture on this page tells us what is happening. 
What has come again to-day? Even the boys do not want 
to play out-of-doors to-day. When they reach the school 
house, they say to the teacher, "May we come in?" What 
does the teacher say to them? What does she say to the 
girls also? 

Page 35 is a review. 

Page 36, Primer 

(Let the children supply the word sing to complete each sentence.) 

The first thing we do when we open school is to 

The little birds in the trees like to 

In some of the games we play at recess we go around 

in a circle and 

When we are happy we like to 

Page 37 is a review. 

Page 38, Primer 

Once upon a time not so very long ago, little Mary 
wrapped her doll up nice and warm, put her in the doll 
cart and started out for a walk down the road in front of 
her home. It was early in the spring, so the grass was 
not yet very green ; but the sun was shining bright and 
warm. All at once Mary saw a little bird right near her 
and she stopped and kept, Oh, so quiet, for fear she would 
scare it away. The little bird would hop a little way, 



LESSON STOEIES 35 

then turn his head to one side and look at Mary. Very 
softly she said to the little thing, 

"Little bird, little bird, 
Will you hop, hop, hop? 
Little bird, little bird, 
Will you stop, stop, stop*?" 

It really seemed as if the bird heard what Mary said, 
for it would hop and then stop, hop and then stop, until 
it was quite close to her. Then she said again, still more 
softly, 

"Little bird, little bird, 
Will you hop, hop, hop? 
Little bird, little bird. 
Will you stop, stop, stop?" 

Mary was so afraid she would scare the little bird 

that she hardly dared to breathe, vet once more she said, 

almost in a whisper, it was so near, 

"Little bird, little bird, 
Will you hop, hop, hop? 
Little bird, little bird. 
Will you stop, stop, stop?" 

Just as she thought the bird was coming up quite 
close to her, a little noise frightened it and away it flew. 
Mary called once more, 

"Little bird, little bird, 
Will you hop, hop, hop? 
Little bird, little bird, 
Will you stop, stop, stop?" 

But this time the little bird did not hear her. 

Sentences fok Drill 

Little bird, little bird, will you hop, hop, hop? 
Little bird, little bird, will you stop, stop, stop ? 



36 EASY EOAD TO BEADING 

Page 39 is a review. 

Page 40, Primer 

Once there was a little boy named Jack who had a 
little sister named Jill. They lived in a white house at 
the foot of a high hill. One day Jack was playing on the 
top of this hill when he saw two birds flying near. They 
seemed to be chasing each other in the sky; first one 
would fly near and then the other would circle around 
over his head as if to keep the first one away. Just for 
fun, he named one of them Jack for himself, and the other 
one Jill, for his sister. Then he watched to see if he 
could tell which was Jack and which was Jill. Once they 
flew so near him that he did not quite like it. So he 
waved his arms and cried, 

"Fly away, Jack, 
Fly away, Jill." 

The birds flew far away and he feared they might not 
come back and called after them, 

"Come again, Jack, 
Come again, Jill." 

Page 41, Primer 
Who is Jack? Who is Jill? 

Page 42, Primer 

Where has the little bird been? 

Where is he now? 

How did he get there? 

What is he doing in the tree ? 

For whom is he singing? 

What kind of song does the bird sing? 



LESSON STORIES 37 

After James let the little bird out of the cage, he looked 
up in the tree and said, 

"Little bird, little bird, 
Up in the tree, 
Little bird, little bird, 
Sing a song for rne." 

Then Mary looked up in the tree and said the same 
thing, 

"Little bird, little bird, 
Up in the tree, 
Little bird, little bird, 
Sing a song for me." 

And the little bird sang a song for them as you can see. 

Sentence foe Drill 

Little bird, sing a song for me. 

Page 43, Primer 

If there is either a James or Mary or both in the class, 
these names should be taught as their names. If not, the 
two children in the picture on page 42 may be named 
James and Mary and the two names taught. 

Are , being a copula, should not be taught alone, but 
in a sentence. This may be easily done by doing as sug- 
gested at the top of the page. Let Mary play she is one 
bird and James another. Make the chalk tell Mary she 
may play she is Jill — Mary, play you are Jill; then have 
a child tell what the chalk says. Later, emphasize the 
new word by various devices. 

Suggestive Sentences for drill on are: 
. . . . , play you are a bird. 
. . . . , play you are Rover. 
. . . . , play you are kitty. 
. . . . , play you are a tree. 



38 EASY ROAD TO READING 

Page 44, Primer 

The little bird is so high in the tree that he is not 
afraid of the little boy and girl. 

The little girl plays that her dolly can talk. She holds 

the dolly out and tells her to say to the little bird, 

"Pretty bird, pretty bird, 
High in the tree; 
Pretty bird, pretty bird, 
Sing a song to me." 

The little boy also calls to the bird, 

"Pretty bird, pretty bird, 
High in the tree; 
Pretty bird, pretty bird, 
Sing a song to me." 

The little bird is singing to them, as you can see. 

Sentence for Drill 

Pretty bird, pretty bird, sing a song to me. 
Page 45 is a review. 

Page 46, Primer 
These children live in the country. Their school 
house is so far from home that they must start early in 
the morning or they will be late to school. Often in the 
early summer mornings they see a little bird on the 
bushes by the side of the road. One day they had with 
them their little cousin from the city. They had told her 
about the birds and the flowers they would see on the way 
to school. Sure enough! "When they came to a certain 
part of the road, there was a dear little bird sitting on a 
bush, singing a happy song. One of the children said to 
their cousin, 

"This is the pretty bird we see, 
So early in the morning." 



LESSON STOEIES 39 

Then the other one said, 

"This is the pretty bird we see, 
So early in the morning." 

Then, as children often will, they made up a little 

song abont the pretty bird, and all sang it : 

"This is the pretty bird we see, 
Bird we see, 
Bird we see; 

This is the pretty bird we see, 
So early in the morning." 

Sentence fob Drill 

This is the pretty bird we see so early in the morning. 

Page 47, Primer 

It happened one day that Jack and his sister Jill were 
out playing. Jill was rolling a hoop and Jack had been 
chasing butterflies. Feeling a little tired, he climbed on 
the steps and sat down to rest. All at once he heard a 
bird singing near. When he looked around, he saw the 
bird on a bush near. He called out to Jill, 

"Do you hear the little birdie 
Singing to me, 
Singing to me! 
Do you hear the little birdie 
Singing to me 
So early in the morning V 

Then Jill thought the little bird was singing for her, 
too, so she said to Jack, 

"Do you hear the little birdie 
Singing to me, 
Singing to me? 
Do you hear the little birdie 
Singing to me 
So early in the morning V 



40 EASY ROAD TO READING 

But something must have happened to the little bird, 
for he would not sing again. The children finally left him 
sitting there on the bush and hoped that after a time they 
could hear him again. 

Sentences for Drill 

Do you hear the little birdie singing to me? 

Do you hear the little birdie singing to me so early in 
the morning? 

Page 48 is a review. 

Page 49, Primer 

What is one of the birds that you see first in the 
spring? 

What color is his breast? his bill? his head? his body? 

His song in the early morning says, " Cheer up! 
Cheer up!" 

Little Jill saw a robin one morning just outside the 
window. Her little sister had been looking at a picture 
book, but when Jill called her, she dropped her book on 
the floor and toddled to the window. Then Jill sang to 
the robin, 

"Sing, robin, sing, 
High up in the tree! 
Sing a sweet song 
For baby and me." 

Sentences for Drill 

Sing, robin, sing, high up in the tree. 
Sing a sweet song for baby and me. 
Page 50 is a review. 



LESSON STOEIES 41 

Page 51, Primer 

Jill's mamma told her a story of how the robins 
built a nest high in the tree where it would be safe from 
harm. After a time there were four blue eggs in the nest. 
Then the mamma robin sat on the eggs to keep them 
warm. After a time four little ones peep out of the nest 
with their mouths wide open for food. The papa robin 
brings food for them and after they have eaten and while 
the mamma robin keeps them warm under her wings, he 
sings to her and the little ones. 

After Jill had heard this storv she ran out-of-doors 
with her little sister, and sang to the robin : 

"Sing, robin, sing 
For baby and me; 
Sing for your little ones 
High in the tree." 

Sentences for Drill 

Sing, robin, sing for baby and me. 
Sing for your little ones high in the tree. 
Page 52 is a review. 

Page 53, Primer 
What is the little girl in the picture doing? 
How many birds are in the nest? 
What is the mamma robin doing? 
Jill talks to the robin about her little ones. 

(It is advisable to make this a conversation lesson and have differ- 
ent ones tell what they think Jill is saying to the robin about her little 
ones.) 

What do you think the little ones want to do? 

What else do they want to do ? When do birds like to 
fly, at night or in the day-time? When do they like to 
sing? Do they sing, as children play, all day long? 



42 EASY ROAD TO READING 

Page 54, Primer 

The only new word of this lesson is way. As the word 
away is familiar, the new word may be easily taught by 
putting away upon the board and then covering the first 
syllable or erasing it. The lesson may then be easily 
read. 

Page 55, Primer 

The word school may be easily suggested by questions 
about the picture. 

What are these children carrying? 
Where are they going? 
Page 56 is a review. 

Page 57, Primer 

When you get up in the morning, what is the first 
thing you say to your mamma? To your papa? If you 
meet anyone on the way to school, what do you say? 

When you come to the school room, what do you say 
to your teacher? 

There is a very pretty "good morning' ' song that 
children in school often sing to their teacher. Place the 
words of the song upon the board and have children recite 
in concert. 

Page 58, Primer 

After the children sing the "good morning" song to 
the teacher, the teacher sings a "good morning" song to 
them. 

The teacher reads or sings the lines to the children. 
She then puts the song on the board for them to read and 
then has it read from the book. 



LESSON STORIES 43 

Page 59, Primer 

As the word that is merely a connective, it is taught 
incidentally in a sentence. In response to questions like 
the following, sentences may be obtained which may be 
put on the board and read, then the one containing that 
may be read until it is wholly familiar, and, as all the 
other words are known, the new one may be easily 
selected. Drill on it as a single word and in other sen- 
tences will fix it. 

What do the children sing to the teacher? 

What does the teacher sing to the children? 

What is the song that the children sing? 

Who is glad to hear the song that the children sing? 

Page 60 is a review. 

Page 61, Primer 

What are falling from the tree? 
Drill on the individual word (leaves). 

What makes the leaves fly away? 

Drill on the individual word (wind). 

What will the wind do to your hat ? 

Drill on the individual word (bloic). 

What will it do to the leaves? 

Place the rhyme on the board and have it read line by 
line before reading from the book. 

Page 62, Primer 

What a nice place this little boy has found in this old 
tree! He climbed up here one warm day last summer. 
There was a gentle wind and he sat there listening to the 
leaves as they were whispering to each other. They all 



44 EASY EOAD TO READING 

seemed so happy rustling and swinging together that he 
was surprised to see one little leaf start to fly away. He 
wondered why this one should go away from all the 
others. He watched it fly gently along with the wind 
until it finally dropped to the ground, where it turned 
over once and then seemed to go to sleep. He looked to 
see if there were other leaves falling, too, but there were 
none — just this little leaf flying away to go to sleep on 
Mother Earth. 

Page 63, Primer 

Did you ever hear the wind whistling down the 
chimney? Sometimes, if you listen, you can hear him 
say, "Woo-oo-oo! Woo-oo-oo!" And often he whistles 
around the corner of the house in the same way — 
" Woo-oo-oo ! Woo-oo-oo !" But it is usually cold weather 
when the wind whistles so loudly. In the fall when the 
leaves on the tree are all red and gold and orange, the 
wind plays with them as if he loved them. He blows 
them this way and that until they can hold onto Mother- 
Tree no longer. Then what a good time the wind has 
with them! He blows and tosses them about over the 
fields, and they seem to like it, for they dance like fairies, 
now here, now there, as if they were glad to be free to go 
where they pleased instead of staying in one place on the 
tree. Almost any breezy day last fall, if you listened, 
you could hear the wind asking the leaves to come over 
the field to play with him. 

"Come, little leaves," 

Said the wind one clay, 
"Come over the fields 

With me and play." 



LESSON STORIES 45 

Sentences for Drill 

' ' Come, little leaves," said the wind one day. 
"Come over the fields with me and play." 
Pages 64 and 65 are review pages. 

Page 66, Primer 

The word a-blowing is one that can be most easily 
taught constructively, that is, by teaching the parts sep- 
arately, then joining them. Blow is familiar, therefore 
blowing is easy to get from the question, "What is the 
wind doing?" Write the word on the board and drill 
on it until it is familiar. Write the word aivay (a familiar 
word) ; have it pronounced; cover the last part and have 
the first part pronounced, being careful to get u, not a. 
Write again on the board ; cover the last part and have 
the first part pronounced by several. When this syllable 
is familiar, place it before blowing and get the two pro- 
nounced together. 

In November when the wind has blown all the leaves 
off the trees it seems to whistle more than ever, but in 
summer, even when it blows very hard, it seems not to 
whistle, but just to sing a loud song. Have you heard 
the wind singing a loud song? 



The child now has a vocabulary, in written and 
printed form, of ninety-one words. There are in the 
Primer, up to page 69, twenty-four pages of review. 
These reviews combined with the daily use of the Percep- 
tion Cards should make these ninety-one words the 
child's own. 



46 EASY EOAD TO BEADING 

GENERAL REVIEW SENTENCES 

If additional review sentences are desired the follow- 
ing are suggested : 

After page 22. 

I like to go with you. 
I want to come with you. 
We want to skip and play. 
Boys, we want to go with you. 
Girls, I want to run with you. 

After page 24. 

Can you come with me? 

Can we play with you? 

I can run and play with you. 

Can you run away to-day? 

Can you play with me? 

I can jump with you. 

Can you skip and hop to me? 

Can you go with me? 

Can we go with you? 

Can you play to-day? 

After page 26. 

Can Rover and kitty come with me? 

Can they come with me? 

Boys like to run. 

Can they run? 

Can girls run like boys? 

Can Rover run and play? 

After page 30. 

See kitty jump. 

See Rover run. 

He can jump and run. 

Little boys can run and jump. 

Little girls can play hop, skip, and jump. 

My little kitty likes to play with me. 



GENERAL REVIEW SENTENCES 47 

Rover likes to play with you. 
He can run with kitty. 

After page 32. 

Rain, rain, come again. 

Go away, rain. 

We can play some other day. 

Boys, come to me. 

Go away again. 

Girls, come and play with me. 

Rover can come some other day. 

She can play some day. 

Kitty can jump some other day. 

After page 34. 

Rover has eome again. 

He likes the ram. 

Boys can run in the rain. 

Can girls play in the, rain 1 ? 

I like the rain. 

Can kitty play in the rain'? 

She likes to run and play. 

After page 36. 

Can you sing 1 ? 

We like to sing. 

Can the little boys sing'? 

Little girls like to sing. 

Can Rover sing 1 ? 

My little boys and girls sing in the rain. 

Can you play and sing 1 ? 

I want to run and skip and sing. 

After page 38. 

The little bird can sing. 
Little bird, stop and sing to me. 
Can you sing like my little bird*? 
Boys and girls like birds. 



48 EASY BOAD TO BEADING 

See my little bird. 

Can you see the bird hop? 

We want the little bird to sing. 

Boys, can you hop like the bird? 

Girls, can you sing like the little bird 

Little bird, will you sing to me? 

Will you sing to my boys and girls? 

After page 40. 

Little birds can fly and sing. 

Can little boys fly? 

Jack can fly. 

He can fly with Jill. 

Jack will fly away with Jill. 

Jack will fly to me some other day. 

She will sing to-day. 

After page 41. 

Jack is my little boy. 
He likes to run and play. 
Jill is my little girl. 
They want to play with you. 
Can you see my little boys? 
She will come with me. 
Is Jack my bird? 
Is he my boy? 
Is she my girl? 

After page 42. 

Will you sing a song for me? 
Come and sing with me. 
We will sing a song for you. 
Fly to the tree, little bird. 
We want you to sing a song. 
Kitty can run up the tree. 
Up, Rover! Jump up! 
Jack is up in the tree. 
Jill wants to go up in the tree. 



GENEEAL REVIEW SENTENCES 40 

After page 43. 

Jack and Jill are little birds. 

They sing with me in the morning. 

Mary and James are with me. 

Are they with you? 

They like to come and play with me. 

We want to see Mary and James. 

Can they run ? 

Stop and sing a song to me. 

They can sing like Jack and Jill. 

The little bird can fly away. 

We go to see the little birds in the tree. 

Can the bird sing a song ? 

They will sing with me. 

Can you sing a song ? 

Girls, the boys can sing a song with you. 

After page 44. 

My bird is pretty. 

She can sing a pretty song. 

I see James high up in the tree. 

See my pretty bird. 

Can you jump high, boys ? 

Jump high for me, boys. 

Sing a pretty song for me. 

We will sing a song with you. 

We like to sing pretty songs. 

I want to sing like the bird. 

The pretty bird is high in the tree. 

After page 46. 

Can you jump to-day ? 

Will you sing a song this morning ? 

Can you sing so early in the morning ? 

The birds sing early in the morning. 

We play and sing to-day. 

Can you come with me so early ? 

Can you sing a song, little boys ? 



56 EASY EOAD TO BEADING 

After page 47. 

Can you hear the birdie sing? 

Do you like to hear the boys and girls sing? 

Do you see the pretty bird? 

I can hear the little boys and girls singing. 

Do you hear the bird singing so early in the morning 

Is the pretty bird singing to me? 

Are you singing to me? 

I can hear the bird singing to you. 

Sing with me, little girls. 

Are the boys singing? 

After page 49. 

Can you hear the robin sing? 
Robin, sing a song for baby and me. 
Robin can sing a sweet song for you. 
The robin is a pretty bird. 
He can sing a sweet song. 
Baby likes to hear the robin sing. 
Do you want to hear the robin sing? 
We like to see the pretty robin. 
Robin will sing with the other birds. 
Can you see the robin fly? 

After page 51. 

Robin, sing for your little ones. 

Sing for baby and me. 

Your little ones are pretty. 

Can they fly and sing? 

The little ones are in the tree. 

Are they high in the tree? 

The little ones want to fly. 

They want to sing. 

Sing a sweet song for baby. 

I see your little ones high in the tree. 

After page 53. 

The little robins cannot sing. 



GENERAL REVIEW SENTENCES 51 

They cannot fly. 

All birds can fly. 

Do you play all day long? 

Can the little birds fly all day? 

Can you play all day long? 

I do not want to fly. 

Do you want to jump? 

I can not jump so high. 

After page 54. 

This is the way we jump. 

We can play this morning. 

Do you want to sing this morning? 

We will sing a sweet song. 

You can hop this way. 

Run this way with me. 

Do you want me to go with you this morning? 

I like to come early. 

You do not come so early in the morning. 

Hover likes to run this way and that. 

After page 55. 

Do you go to school? 

Will you come to school early? 

This is the way we play in school. 

Is this the way you run to school? 

Can you run all the way to school? 

Is this my little girl? 

Are you my little boy? 

I like to go to school in the morning. 

Do you stop to play on the way to school? 

We like to play on the way to school. 

After page 57. 

This is a good little girl. 
She likes to sing in school. 
She is glad to see the dear teacher. 
Are you glad to see me? 



52 EASY KOAD TO BEADING 

Are you good all day long? 

I hear the boys and girls singing. 

They are singing a "good morning" song. 

I can see the teacher. 

She is glad to hear the boys and girls sing. 

They sing a sweet song to the teacher. 

After page 58. 

I hear the children singing. 

They are singing to the teacher. 

She sings to the children. 

Do you hear the children sing? 

They like to sing in school. 

The children run and jump on the way to school. 

Some children like to go to school. 

Other children do not like to go to school. 

After page 59. 

Is this the song that you like to sing? 

We like to sing that song. 

I do not like to jump that way. 

This is the bird we like to hear. 

Kitty, do you like to run with me? 

We do not go that way to school. 

Is this your kitty ? 

Rover likes to play with kitty. 

This is not the way to go. 

Hop and skip on the way to school. 

Can you sing the song that they are singing? 

After page 61. 

The wind blows the leaves away. 

Can you see the leaves? 

We like to see them fly. 

The wind will blow the leaves away. 

Can you see the wind? 

Do you like to hear the wind sing? 

The wind will blow all day long. 

We can hear the wind singing to the leaves. 



GENEEAL REVIEW SENTENCES 53 

After page 62. 

Can the little leaf fly away 1 ? 

Can you see one leaf? 

I can see one little leaf. 

The leaf will fly away. 

The wind can blow the leaf away. 

I can see the leaves. 

Stop, little leaf. 

Come and play with me. 

One little boy is in the tree. 

Will you go with me to the tree? 

I like to see the little leaves fly. 

After page 63. 

The wind said to the leaves, "Come with me." 

Will you play with me, little leaves? 

Come over the fields with me. 

We want to play in the fields to-day. 

The birds fly over the fields. 

Can you fly, little leaves? 

Can you fly like the birds? 

The teacher said, "Good morning, dear children." 

The children said, "We are glad to see you, dear teacher." 

I am glad to see you, dear little boys and girls. 

After page 66. 

The wind can sing a loud song. 
Can little boys sing loud? 
We can sing a sweet song to-day. 
Is the wind a-blowing? 
Will you sing a song for me ? 
Mary is a dear little girl. 
She can run to school to-day. 
This is the way she runs. 



CHAPTER IV 
CONNECTED STORIES 

With the exception of the rhyme on pages 76 and 77, 
which may be taught in a manner similar to those on pre- 
ceding pages, the remainder of the Primer is made up of 
connected stories. 

If the work in phonics^ has accompanied the reading, 
the class will now be able to get many of the new words 
presented in the stories from their knowledge of phono- 
grams and consonants. Those which contain sounds not 
yet familiar may be taught by suggestive questions, 
stories, objects, actions, or pictures, as shown in the 
lessons already studied. 

The four stories, Jack and Jill, The House that Jack 
Built, The Boy and the Goat, and Chicken Little, with 
review sentences and the rhjane on page 77, make up the 
last forty pages of the Primer. 

Page 68, Primer 

The nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill, is familiar to most 
children. As it is taught by sections, only a few words 
being unfamiliar, there need be no difficulty in securing 
its ready reading. The two names have been previously 
taught, also up and the, so that only went and hill are 
unfamiliar. A single question as to what Jack and Jill 
did will bring to mind the old nursery jingle. It is best 

54 



CONNECTED STORIES 55 

to place the sentence on the board in a single line with no 
capital except those beginning the proper names, and 
have it read from there before reading from the book, 
where it is printed in the usual two-line form. 

Page 70, Primer 

The question "What did Jack and Jill go up the hill 
for?" will bring the line To get a pail of water, and the 
three lines may be read as a whole. The separate words 
should then be drilled upon. 

Page 71, Primer 

The last line of this page prepares for the following 
lessons. The question "What happened to Jack?" will 
introduce the new words fell and down, or they may be 
taught through their knowledge of phonics and the line 
then presented as a whole. 

Page 72, Primer 

What happened to Jack when he fell down the hill ? 

What did he do to his crown? 

What did he break? 

Drill on the separate words before reading the last line. 

Page 73, Primer 

Get the words came, tumbling, and after through 
phonics ; then have the whole rhyme read. 

Dkill Sentences 

Jack and Jill went up the hill to get a pail of water. 
Jack fell down and broke his crown. 
Jill came tumbling after. 



56 EASY EOAD TO EEADING 

Page 77, Primer 

This rhyme may be taught as the other rhymes in the 
book have been. When the children are familiar with it 
have them repeat it in concert. 

Page 80, Primer 

This is the first of the three stories making up the 
remainder of the book, all of which are what may be 
termed cumulative in character. This type of story, 
involving, as it does, much repetition with the introduc- 
tion of each new character, is dear to childhood. 

Preparation for the story The House That Jack Built 
is made by presenting the first sentence, This is the house 
that Jack built, and then weaving these words into many 
sentences containing familiar words. This sentence may 
be introduced by a talk about the picture on page 80, or 
by questions on the picture. 

This boy's name is Jack. What has he in his hand? 
What has he been doing with it? Whose house is this? 
Who built it ? Point to the house that Jack built. Draw 
a picture of the house that Jack built. 

Write the sentence This is the house that Jack built 
on the board. Have the sentence read, first from the 
board, then from the book. 

The rest of this story, pages 83-90, may be taught in a 
manner similar to the above. The picture will name the 
new object introduced and a question or questions will 
bring out what part the new object plays in the story. 

The dramatization of this and other stories is given in a separate 
section of the Manual. 



CONNECTED STORIES 57 

Page 91, Primer 

The story of The Boy and the Goat is probably not so 
familiar to children in general as are the nursery rhymes 
Jack and Jill and The House That Jack Built. It may be 
that the teacher will prefer to let the children get the 
story by discovery, that is, by reading it, section by sec- 
tion. But, if preferred, the story may be told by the 
teacher, previous to the reading, in form somewhat more 
elaborated than that given in the text. Familiarity with 
a story does not destroy the young child's desire to hear 
or to read it over and over again. 

The following is suggestive of the preparatory story 
that may be told if it is desired to follow this method: 

On the top of a high hill was a little white house and 
in this house lived a little boy with his papa and mamma. 
This boy did not have so many playthings as most chil- 
dren have, for his parents were very poor ; but he had a 
playfellow of whom he was very fond. This playfellow 
was not a dog, nor a kitty, nor even a pony, but it was a 
goat. Brown and shaggy, with two sharp horns and 
rather a long beard, he looked handsome to the little 
fellow who loved him. The goat spent much of his time 
tied to a stake in the yard just back of the house. His 
rope was long so that he could nibble the grass in the 
yard for some distance around, but sometimes, when the 
grass seemed short and dry, the little boy untied the goat, 
and, holding the rope carefully, would lead him out into 
the near-by fields to eat. One bright sunny day, he 
started down the hill, leading the goat to a new feeding- 
ground. The goat happened to be feeling pretty good 
that day, and he tried to get free several times. But the 



58 EASY EOAD TO READING 

boy held liim fast until they came near the woods which 
were not far from the house, when the goat made a 
sudden leap and the rope slipped from the boy's hand. 
Off into the woods ran the goat, dragging the rope with 
him, and after him ran the boy. 

From this point on, the story may follow the text. 

When ready to begin the reading, the new words may 
be taught through phonics, except the names of the 
animals, which are more readily suggested by the pic- 
tures. This story offers an opportunity for reading as a 
dialogue — an opportunity that should never be neg- 
lected, for by this method, natural, easy, pleasant read- 
ing is easy to secure. 

The dramatization of this and other stories is given in a separate 
section of the Manual. 

Page 104, Primer 
Introductory Story 

Have you ever seen a flock of little fluffy chickens in 
the yard? If you have, you will remember how any little 
noise will send them running to the mother hen. They 
all try to huddle close about her as if they were afraid 
something terrible would happen to them. And if one 
little chick happens to get a little way from the others 
and then she hears any little noise, no matter what it is, 
you should see her scamper to her mother to tell her all 
about it ! 

This story, Chicken Little, is about a young chick so 
small that everyone, even her mother, called her Little 
Chicken or Chicken Little, just whichever happened to 
come to mind first. One day Chicken Little was so busy 



CONNECTED STORIES 59 

scratching for food that she did not notice that she had 
wandered far from her mother and brothers and sisters. 
She had just found a fine worm under a big tree and had 
swallowed it whole, when she happened to look up and 
see that she was all alone and that all was very still 
around her. Just then something fell on her head. Then 
she teas scared. It was really nothing but a seed from 
the old oak tree under which she was eating, but Chicken 
Little did not know this, of course. Her heart began to 
thump, for she thought that the sky was falling and that 
a piece of it had struck her on the head. She could hardly 
make her two feet go fast enough to take her to her 
mother to tell her all about it. 

From this point on the text may be used. 

The dramatization of this and other stories is given in a separate 
section of the Manual. 



CHAPTER V 

DRAMATIZATION 

Primer 
Value of Dramatization 

From the beginning of the work in reading until 
school days are finished, the teacher should never lose 
sight of the potency of dramatization in teaching reading. 
Whether this dramatization shall take the form of vivify- 
ing words through simple action to show understanding 
of their meaning, or the reading of the conversational 
parts of selections as dialogue, or the conversion of the 
longer connected stories into drama form, will depend 
upon the nature of the lesson to be read. 

Detailed Suggestions 

In the first thirty pages of the Primer action words 
predominate. The silent reading of the word and its 
translation into action are often more valuable than oral 
utterance, showing as they do whether the child really 
reads understanding^. At the same time, the action 
affords a legitimate outlet for the physical restlessness 
of the child. The actions suggested by such words as 
come, go, run, jump, hop, skip, sing, and fly are easily 
performed and need not be a disturbance to other work. 

Page 7, Primer 

Ask different children to tell others to "come" with 
the hand. Do the same with "go." 

60 



DEAMATIZATION 61 

Ask one child to act the sentence "Come and go." 
Use the picture as a suggestion, if necessary. 



Page 8, Primer 

Let one child illustrate "run" by running lightly on 
tiptoe across the room. 

Let a second run lightly and jump, after reading the 
sentence. The jumping should be done with both feet, 
but need not be noisy. 

Tell another child to perform the action after reading 
the word "hop." Note that this is done on one foot. 

Write "Hop and jump" on the board. Let one child 
read, then act. 

Do the same with the last two sentences. 

(These actions may be performed so lightly and quietly as not to 
disturb the children at work in the room.) 

Page 9, Primer 

Let the children take turns at being "I." Then let 
them, in turn, perform the actions indicated by the dif- 
ferent sentences. 

Page 10, Primer 

Skipping consists of alternate leaps and hops. Be 
careful to distinguish it from hopping and jumping. 

Let two children be "we" and perform the actions 
together. 

If thought practicable, the rope may be used for skip- 
ping, as suggested by the picture. 



62 



EASY EOAD TO READING 



Page 11, Primer 

As "play" is a general word, it can not well be drama- 
tized unless some special meaning is attached to it. 

Let each child select what he wants to play — jump, 

run, hop, or skip. Then let two or three perform these 

actions at the same time or two together do one thing as 

play. 

Pages 12 to 19, Primer 

Pages 12-19 inclusive may be dramatized in a manner 
similar to the foregoing. 

The rhymes on pages 16, 20, 22, 54, and 55 lend them- 
selves easily to concerted action. 

Page 16, Primer 



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Come and hop and jump to - day; We like to run and skip and play. 

Page 20, Primer 

The rhyme here given may be dramatized as shown 
in the picture or in any similar way. It may also be sung 
and acted at the same time. 



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Boys and girls, run and play; We want to skip with you to - day. 

Page 22, Primer 



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Girls and boys, run and play; We want to skip with you to - day. 



DRAMATIZATION 

Page 26, Primer 



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Rov-er and kit - ty can run to - day; They like to jump and run and play. 



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Rov-er and kit- ty can run to-day; They like to jump and run and play. 

Page 30, Primer 



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See my kit - ty jump to - day, My lit - tie kit - ty likes to play. 

Page 32, Primer 



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Rain, rain, go a- way, Come a-gain someoth-er day, Boys and girls want to play. 

Pages 49 and 51, Primer 



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Sing, robin, sing High up in the tree! Sing a sweet song For ba-by and me. 
Sing, robin, sing For ba - by and me, Sing for your lit-tle ones High in the tree. 

Pages 54 and 55, Primer 



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This is the way we run and play, Run and play, run and play; 
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This is the way we run and play, Ear - ly in the morn - ing. 
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64 



EASY ROAD TO READING 

Page 58, Primer (Also Pages 54 and 55) 



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This is the song the teach - er sings, The teach - er sings, the teach - er sings; 



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This is the song the teach - er sings So ear - ly in the morn - ing. 

Page 57, Primer 

Sing to above music : 

This is the little song we sing, 
Song we sing, song we sing, 
This is the little song we sing 
So early in the morning. 

Follow this by i ' Good Morning to You, ' ' etc. 

Pages 57 and 58, Primer 

The first four lines of each page may be sung to the 
tune given for pages 54 and 55, but the key should be 
changed to four flats, key note, A flat. 

The last four lines of each page may be sung to the 
following : 

Page 57, Primer 



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Good morning to you, good morning to you, Good morning, dear teacher, we are glad to see you. 

Page 63, Primer 

Let one child be the wind; the others, the leaves. 
Have the wind at one side, or behind some object, say- 



DRAMATIZATION 



65 



ing " Woo-oo-oo ! Woo-oo-oo !" Then have him come out 
and say, as he runs lightly about, "Come, little leaves, 
come over the fields and play." Then the leaves also run 
lightly about after him. 

If preferred, the rhyme may be sung instead of being 
recited as the children act. 

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'Come, little leaves," Said the wind one day, "Come o-ver the fields With me and play." 



Jack and Jill 

This simple rhyme can be dramatized easily by a little 
boy and a little girl while the class recites it in concert or 
while one child recites it. The children should be taught 
to fall easily and quietly, this affording excellent practice 
in bodily control. 

The well may be improvised from four chairs placed 
back to back so as to form a hollow square, and the chil- 
dren may dip the pail down in the square, or they may 
perform the action of pumping by using a pointer or long 
ruler slipped between the rounds of the back of the chair. 
Arrange the pump on the platform, if there be one, so 
that the hill may be simulated. There should be a pause 
after the recitation of the first two lines to allow time for 
Jack and Jill to draw or pump the water from the well, 
and to start back down the hill. 



The House That Jack Built 

Let one boy be Jack, and build his house with chairs 
in any way that his fancy suggests. He should then sit 



66 EASY EOAD TO READING 

in his house while the rest of the drama is acted. The 
one who is the malt should curl up on the floor of the 
house with his head hidden. The rat should creep on 
hands and feet and nibble the malt. The cat should creep 
in and catch the rat while the latter is nibbling, and then 
the dog should run in on all fours and chase the cat 
around. The cow with the crooked horn should be rep- 
resented by using the hands for horns, and a pretense 
should be made of tossing the dog on the horns. The girl 
that milked the cow may simply walk in with the pail on 
her arm. The latter part of the story, being an addendum 
to the original, and not lending itself easily to dramatiza- 
tion, may be omitted, unless it be preferred to have some 
one for papa, mamma, and baby, and all three just come 
in to look at the cow. The simplest action is enjoyed by 
children and the incongruities will not be noticed by them. 

The Bay and the Goat 

The only accessory needed for the dramatization of 
this story is a string by which the goat may be' led. Com- 
mon twine will do. Chairs placed in one corner of the room 
may represent the woods. By the time they have finished 
reading the story, the children will be familiar with the 
conversation, so that the action will move along smoothly. 
The bee should simulate flying with the arms. The rab- 
bit, squirrel, and fox may go on all fours or walk as usual. 
If left to themselves to determine the action, the children, 
will probably do the former. Spontaneity should charac- 
terize all dramatization, so that the teacher should do as 
little directing as possible. If encouraged to do so, the 
children will suggest the accessories and the action. 



DRAMATIZATION 67 

Chicken Little 

Let the smallest child in the class be Chicken Little. 
The teacher may be the tree, and drop a tiny piece of 
crayon for the seed. The next larger child may be Henny 
Penny, the taller ones Turkey Lurkey and Goosey Loosey, 
while a short, stouter one may be Ducky Lucky. Foxy 
Loxy should be the largest boy, and he should run on all 
fours. The chairs may be arranged in a corner to form 
the fox's den. The different animals should be disposed 
in different parts of the room, in the order of the appear- 
ance in the drama. The children should run lightly on 
tiptoe. 

FIRST READER 

See PEIMEE, p. 60. 

There are only a few stories in the First Reader that 
do not lend themselves easily to dramatization. The 
teacher need not concern herself to provide elaborate 
accessories, for the imagination of the children will con- 
vert a chair or other available object into anything de- 
sired. 

No story should be dramatized until it has been read 
in its entirety by the class so that all its details are famil- 
iar. It adds to the interest of the action if the children 
remember the conversation of the lesson. To this end 
the teacher will find it an advantage while the lesson is 
being read to have the children 'assume the different 
characters whenever there is conversation in the lesson. 
This reading as a dialogue, without the explanatory 
words, is a great help in securing easy, intelligent, ex- 
pressive reading. It serves also to add interest to have 
different children read the explanatory words. This 



68 EASY EOAD TO READING 

engages the attention and co-operation of more of the 
class than the dialogue alone can do. Both methods are 
good ; neither should be used to the exclusion of the other. 
Let the children do the dramatizing as far as possible, 
the teacher keeping in the background. Self-expression 
though crude is worth more than a finished performance. 

Page 7, The North Wind 

Let the largest boy personify the Wind. He may come 
running in, waving his arms and blowing. The smallest 
children may be the leaves. One child reads. When the 
point is reached where the North Wind speaks, let him 
say the words and the little leaves run about quietly on 
tiptoe, the North Wind chasing them. 

Page 12, Piggy 

Three different children may be the pig in the three 
different stanzas. Four children may ask the question 
at the beginning of each stanza; first a boy, then a girl, 
then a boy and girl together. The pictures are suggestive 
of the action. 

Page 15, The Billy Goats Gruff 

Let a child be the elf. Two rulers, if no board is at 
hand, may be placed across two chairs to serve as a 
bridge, and each of the Billy Goats Gruff (represented 
by any convenient object, handled by another child) may 
climb over it while the elf crouches at one side under the 
bridge. Or the platform may serve as a bridge and the 
elf may crouch behind a chair at one corner. In this case 
the children may be the Billy Goats Gruff. Ignore all 



DRAMATIZATION 69 

but the conversation, which the children will easily re- 
member. 

Page 28, The Race 

This makes very good material for dramatization. Let 
the smallest child be the tortoise; the largest, the fox. 
The tortoise should crawl on all fours, the hare should 
go with a hop, skip, and jump. The accessories are the 
woods, which may be represented by a number of chil- 
dren standing together; the bridge, represented by the 
platform; and a tree beyond the bridge, represented by 
a chair or by a child. 

Page 36, Ten Little Brownies 

Each stanza and the accompanying illustration sug- 
gest the action. A box may be utilized for the shoe. 

Page 41, Little Half -Chick 

A small child should be Half-chick; a child lying on 
the floor, the brook; another child kneeling between two 
chairs tipped back to back, the fire ; another child waving 
his arms and blowing, the wind ; the waste basket, the ket- 
tle ; and the largest girl, the cook. 

Page 51, Wolf! Wolf! 

This is a dramatization wholly for the boys and if left 
to themselves they will put plenty of spirit into it. The 
girls may read the connecting parts or be the sheep. 

Page 56, The Little Pig's House 

This is so easy to dramatize that no suggestions are 
necessary. 



70 EASY ROAD TO READING 

Page 73, The Lion Cub and the Man 

This is another story which the boys will enjoy put- 
ting into action. It is so long that it may very well be 
divided into parts and different boys be allowed in turn 
to be the hero. In the same way, several boys may take 
turns being the lion cub. The table leg may be the tree, 
and a pointer the ax, if nothing better is present. 

Page 86, The Honest Woodman 

The boy who is the woodman may be on the platform ; 
the girl taking the part of the fairy may crouch on the 
floor near and rise or sink as the story progresses. The 
pointer with a pasteboard ax-head may serve as the ax. 
The head should be fastened loosely in place so that it 
will fly off into the water, the floor around the fairy. 

Page 95, The Selfish Old Woman 

In addition to the two main characters, one little child 
may be in the oven and change the pieces of pasteboard 
representing the dough to larger ones. She (or he) may 
sit between two chairs placed back to back and hold a 
book for the oven shelf. A large book stood on end may 
serve as oven door. As the old woman changes to a bird, 
the child acting the part may crouch to make herself 
smaller and imitate flying with her arms. 

Page 103, The Little Red Apple 

Tie something red loosely on the end of the pointer 
and support this on the table so that it will project over 
the little girl who sits on the platform or floor under the 
edge of the table. A small child may be the robin and hop 
from the chair to the table and pretend to sing or whistle. 



DRAMATIZATION 71 

The sun may extend the hands with fingers spread 
over the apple to represent the beams, then may kiss the 
apple as stated in the story. The wind may come running 
in and blow the apple until it falls into the little girl's lap. 

Page 122. Little Brother 

This needs no suggestions beyond what are contained 
in the story. The boys will enjoy its dramatization. 

Page 128. The Hares and the Elephants 

Let the larger children be the elephants, the largest 
one the king, and the very smallest ones the hares. Give 
them homes on opposite sides of the room. The pool may 
be the platform. 

Page 132. Oock-a-lu and Hen-a-lie 

Have several of the boys as cocks in the first part and 
let them crow when wakened by Cock-a-lu's crowing. A 
very small child crawling may be the snail ; a little girl, 
the squirrel, carrying a piece of paper crumpled to repre- 
sent the leaf ; and another little girl, the brown hen. 



CHAPTEE VI 

PHONICS 

The Aim of Phonic Work 

The aim in the teaching of phonics is to give the child 
power to recognize new words without assistance. The 
work, therefore, should be practical and thorough, and be 
closely related to the simpler words of the child's speak- 
ing vocabulary. Daily drill is necessary in order that 
the child may rapidly gain phonetic power. This drill 
should be rapid, not halting. Great care must be taken to 
secure accuracy in the utterance of the sounds, as this is 
necessary to accurate pronunciation and clear enuncia- 
tion later. 

Time of Beginning Phonic Work 

The teaching of phonics proper should begin about 
the second week of school, but phonic games preparatory 
to this work should begin on the first day. The rapidity 
with which the sounds are taught will depend upon the 
ability of the class and the time given to the subject. The 
average class should, if possible, be divided into three 
groups, the children who learn rapidly being placed in 
the first group ; those who learn less rapidly in the second 
group ; and the slow children in the third group. 

The best results will be obtained if the phonic and the 
reading recitations are separate. Even if only five min- 
utes at a time can be given, the attention will be focused 

72 



PHONICS 73 

on phonics alone for that time ; whereas if fifteen minutes 
be given to phonics and reading, the tendency is to center 
on the reading and neglect the phonics. This does not 
mean that there should be no phonics in connection with 
reading. On the contrary, the primal purpose of teach- 
ing phonics is to give the child power to find out new 
words for himself. No opportunity to apply his knowl- 
edge of phonics to the mastery of a new word in reading 
should be neglected. As each phonic fact must be mas- 
tered before passing to the next, the teacher will do well 
to make haste slowly. 

Preparatory Phonic Games 

The following games furnish suggestions for oral 
work preparatory to the teaching of phonics, no attempt 
being made at this stage to connect the oral sound with 
the written or printed symbol representing that sound. 
A week or two of this work will accustom the ear of the 
child to the separation of spoken words into the initial 
consonant and family, and render more easy the teaching 
of phonics proper. 

Game 1. Tell My Name. — Charles is blindfolded. The 
teacher points to a member of the class 
(Jack), who says, " Good-morning, Charles." 
Charles replies, ' * Good-morning, Jack. ' ' This 
is continued with other children until Charles 
fails to give the correct name. 

Game 2. Teacher gives a word, fan, for instance. Asks 
a child for a word that sounds like fan; then 
another, and so on until the children can think 



74 EASY ROAD TO READING 

of no more. Then the teacher may give an- 
other starting word or have one of the class 
give one. 

This game is a particularly good one for 
teaching quickness of thought and training 
the ear to discriminate sounds. It is the 
basis of the family work which comes later. 

Game 3. Teacher says, "I am thinking of a word that 
sounds like sun. You may guess what it is, 
Mary." "Is it fun?" "No, it is not fun." 
Continue until some one guesses the word. 
Vary the game by letting one child start it. 

Game 4. Have familiar objects with simple names pres- 
ent (book, bell, ball, cap, hat, top, box, etc.) 
Teacher says, "Bring me the c-ap" (sound- 
ing the word as indicated). To another, 
"Bring me the t-op." To another, "Put the 
b-ox on the chair." 

At this point no more should be asked of 
the child than that he shows that he recog- 
nizes the word when thus sounded by doing 
what is requested with the object named. 

Game 5. Ask the child to perform some simple action, as 
st-and; or w-alk; or s-it. 

Game 6. Commence the game as directed in (4). When 
the child brings the object, cap, ask him to 
tell you what he has in the way you told him. 
This will require patience and much repeti- 
tion, for he will be inclined to pronounce the 
word as a whole instead of separating it. 



PHONICS 75 

Game 7. Separate a child's name, thus, J-ack, in giving 
him some direction to follow. Do not help the 
child by looking at him. Compel him to rec- 
ognize with the ear alone that he is meant. 

Have one child call on another one in the 
same way, giving some direction to be fol- 
lowed. 

A Method of Teaching Sounds 

The sounds of the letters should be taught from the be- 
ginning in their proper relation as parts of words in the 
child's vocabulary. After the child has learned several 
single sounds, he is ready to blend these with families to 
form new words. These families are also taught by an- 
alyzing words that are familiar to the child. Only words 
that the child can use should be blended. Children take 
pleasure in discovering new words and using them in sen- 
tences. These word lists make excellent seat work, and, 
later on in the year, furnish material for spelling. 

The First Sounds Taught 

The first lessons in the Primer are based upon action 
words easily mastered by the child, hence these words 
are made the basis of the first five sounds taught, begin- 
ning with the sound of c in come. 

In presenting this sound, the teacher first pronounces 
the word easily and naturally. Then she pronounces it 
slowly, separating the sounds thus : c-ome. She repeats 
this several times, always giving the sound softly. Next, 
she tells the class to say the word slowly. Then it is given 
by different children in the class. She then tells them to 



76 EASY ROAD TO READING 

watch the chalk say it, and writes the word on the board, 
slightly separating the letter c from the remainder of the 
word, and slowly pronouncing the word as she writes it. 
She then blends the two parts of the word, pointing to 
c and ome as she does this. Then she tells the class to 
say it with her and points to the c and ome as before. By 
the time several children in the class have thus blended 
the word, they have discovered for themselves the sound 
of c, and when the teacher covers ome and, pointing to c, 
asks what it is says, they readily give the sound. 

The next step is the blending of other familiar words 
beginning with c and having the children guess the words, 
The following are suggested as being suitable for use in 
teaching the sound of c: cow, cat, call, cut, and catch. 
After the words have been blended and the children have 
guessed them, they should be written on the board with 
the c separated from the remainder of the word, as in the 
word c-ome. A child is then called to the board to find c, 
the teacher calling it by its sound, and the child giving the 
sound as he points to the letter. Different children find c 
in each of the words, giving the sound as they point to it. 
Then all the letters of the words are erased except c, and 
the class sounds what remains. 

Each consonant sound is taught in a similar manner 
after the word by which it is introduced has been taught 
in the reading lesson. All blends and sounds should be 
reviewed daily. 

Phonic Drills 

After the phonic work proper has put the class in pos- 
session of a few sounds, drill on these sounds may be 
varied by one or more of the following games : 



PHONICS 77 

Game 1. Quick Ears. — The children form a ring. One child 
who is "It" stands in the center of the ring. 
He points quickly to a child and gives a fam- 
ily name. The child designated must imme- 
diately respond with a word containing the 
family name, or pay the forfeit by being 
"It." 

Game 2. Changing Places. — A number of children stand 
in a straight line in front of the school, each 
holding a phonic card. The teacher announces 
that the game is going to be "Changing 
Places." 

Some child who is seated asks, "May I 
change places with ingf If he can go to the 
front and find ing at once, he is allowed to 
change places and stand in line while the 
other child sits in his seat. This continues 
until the different sounds have been recog- 
nized. 

Game 3. Guessing. — After several sounds and families 
have been taught, the teacher writes them on 
the board. One child covers his eves while 
the teacher points to the sound to be guessed. 
The child then looks at the written sounds 
and points to the different ones, asking, "Is 
it unV' The class answers, "No, it is not 
un." This continues until the child guesses 
correctly, when the children answer, "Yes, it 
is fe." Another child then covers his eyes, 
and the first child chooses the word to be 
guessed. 



78 EASY ROAD TO READING 

Game 4. Making Families. — After the children have had 
considerable experience in blending and 
building word lists, it is a good plan to give 
each child a card having on it the name of a 
family, and let him tell all the words he 
knows belonging to that family. To vary 
this, the teacher may write on the board a 
group of words representing different fami- 
lies, and have each child point to the words 
belonging to his family. 

Game 5. Recognition of Given Sound in Names. 

When a given sound has been learned, say t, tell the 
class that each child who has the sound of t in either his 
first or last name to stand in a certain place or do any- 
thing else which the teacher may designate to show recog- 
nition. This is good practice on each new sound. 

Phonetic Lessons 

The lesson units in phonics which follow should not be 
confused with recitation units. Sometimes the material 
given in one lesson may be sufficient for two or three or 
even more recitations, depending upon the ability of the 
class and the time given. 

The lesson numbers have no significance beyond indi- 
cating sequence, and even this may be varied without 
materially interfering with the method, providing it is 
kept in mind that no sound should be taught until the key 
word used to teach it is familiar to the child both in its 
oral and written or printed form. The words suggested 
for blending words in the first ten lessons are familiar 
to the average child in their spoken form, but their use 



PHONICS 79 

here is purely a phonetic one, to help fix the sound pre- 
sented, and is not for the purpose of increasing the 
child's written or printed vocabulary. However, some 
such increase will incidentally result, especially with the 
brighter children. 

Lesson 1. Teach the sound of c from come. Follow 
the plan outlined earlier in this chapter in teaching all 
consonant sounds. Blend cow, cat, call, cut, and catch. ' 

Lesson 2. Teach the sound of g from go. Blend gun, 
get, goat, girl, and gate. 

Lesson 3. Teach the sound of r and the family un 
from run. Blend rain, rest, rip, ride, ring, and right. 

Lesson 4. Teach the sound of j and the family ump 
from jump. Blend joy, just, jar, jam, and joke. 

Lesson 5. Teach the sound of h and family op from 
hop. Blend hill, hot, hit, hat, hall, and hand. 

Lesson 6. Teach the sound of iv from we. Blend 
wind, water, will, wall, wait, and west. 

Lesson 7. Teach the sound of t from to. Blend ten, 
top, tall, take, tent, and toy. 

Lesson 8. Teach the sound of m from me. Blend mat, 
move, mill, make, man, and mine. 

Lesson 9. Teach the sound of I from like. Blend low, 
let, long, little, and last. 

Lesson 10. Teach the sound of b and the family oy 
from boy. Blend bat, ball, best, bell, band, and bird. 

Drill Charts 

The children now know the following single consonant 
sounds and families : c, g, r, j, h, w, t, m, I, b, un, ump, op, 
and oy. 



80 EASY EOAD TO HEADING 

They are now ready to use this phonetic knowledge to 
unlock the following words, which are unfamiliar in their 
written form : 



bun 


lump 


lop 


bunt 


gun 


top 


crop 


*blunt 


bump 


mop 


hunt 


joy 


hump 









These words may be presented in family groups at 
first, but later should be given miscellaneously. 

Charts of stiff manila paper upon which these word 
lists can be printed will be found very helpful. If no 
printing outfit is available, black crayola will prove a 
good substitute. Each new sound or combination should 
be blended whenever possible with families previously 
taught, and these new words added to the chart. 

Lesson 11. From the word and, which is familiar, 
blend hand, land, band, grand, and brand. 

Lesson 12. Teach the sound of the consonant y from 
you. Blend yes, young, and yellow. 

Lesson 13. Teach the family an from can. Blend 

an ran man bran 

can tan ban 

Lesson 14. Teach k from kitty. Blend kite, kind, 
king, and Kate. 

Lesson 15. Teach s from see. Blend sat, sand, say, 
and sun. 

* The initial consonants of this word should be prefixed to the family 
separately, lunt, then prefix b. 



PHONICS 81 

Lesson 16. Teach sh from she. Blend shop and shun. 
Lesson 17. Teach the combination sk from skip. Blend 
sky, skate, skin, and skill. 

Teach the family ip from skip. Blend 

ip lip tip clip 

skip sip ship slip 

rip hip trip 

Lesson 18. Teach ain from rain. Blend 

ain main train brain 

rain lain grain slain 

gain 

Lesson 19. From in, which is familiar, blend 

in sin skin kin 

tin win bin shin 

Lesson 20. Teach ing from sing. Blend • 

ing ring king swing 

sing wing bring sling 

It is good practice to have the class add this syllable 
to words already familiar: jump-ing, rain-ing, skip- 
(p)m#, run- (n) ing, and so on. 

Lesson 21. Teach ill from will. Blend 



ill 


fill 


bill 


skill 


will 


till 


kill 


sill 


hill 


mill 







Lesson 22. Teach the combination st from stop. 
Blend stop, stump, sting, and still. 



82 EASY EOAD TO READING 

Lesson 23. Teach the family ack from Jack. Blend 



ack 


back 


tack 


lack 


rack 


sack 


Jack 


track 


hack 


stack 


crack 





Lesson 24. Teach the combination tr and family ee 
from tree. Blend trip, train, trill, and track. 

Show the class that the sound of ee at the end of a 
word is the same as e. Blend 



we 


be 


bee 


wee 


me 


she 


see 


glee 


he 


tree 







Lesson 25. Teach the sound of / from for. Blend 
fun, fin, fill, and fan. 

Lesson 26. Teach the combination fi and vowel sound 
of y from fly. Blend flop, fling, flip. 

fly by sky shy 

my try sty 

Lesson 27. Teach the family ong from song. Blend 
song, gong, long, and strong. 

Lesson 28. Teach the family ear from hear. Blend 

ear rear fear sear 

hear tear year shear 

Lesson 29. Teach the sound n and family ot from not. 
Blend nun, Nan, near, nip. Blend 

ot rot hot shot 

cot lot tot trot 



ay 


jay 


say 


gay 


hay 


lay 


ray 


way 


bay 


day 


may 


tray 



PHONICS 83 

Lesson 30. From the word all, blend 

all call wall hall 

ball fall tall stall 

Lesson 31. Teach the sound of d and family ay from 
day. Blend dip, Dan, ding, dong, dear, and dot. Blend 

stray 

stay 

gray 



Lesson 32. Teach the combination gl and family ad 
from glad. Blend gland and glee. Blend 

ad had bad fad 

glad lad sad clad 

mad 

Lesson 33. Teach the family ood from good. Blend 

good hood wood stood 

Lesson 34. Teach the combination ch from children. 
Blend chop, chip, chain, chin, and chill. 

Lesson 35. Teach the combination th and the familv 

*/ 

at from that. Blend than, thy. Blend 

at mat fat . Nat 

cat sat bat chat 

rat tat flat that 

Lesson 36. Teach the combination bl and family ow 
from blow. Blend black, bland, and blot. Blend 



ow 


mow 


sow 


glow 


blow 


low 


show 


stow 


row 


bow 


flow 


grow 



84 EASY ROAD TO READING 

Lesson 37. Teach the family et from get. Blend 



et 


met 


fret 


net 


jet 


let 


yet 


get 


wet 


bet 


set 





Lesson 38. Teach the sound of p and the family ail 
from pail. Blend pump, pop, pan, pain, pin, pill, pack, 
pat, pot, pad, and pet. Blend 



ail 


jail 


tail 


sail 


pail 


hail 


mail 


fail 


rail 


wail 


nail 


trail 



Lesson 39. Teach the combination pi in play. Blend 
plump, plan, plain, plat, and plot. 

Lesson 40. Teach the family ell from fell. Blend 



ell 


yell 


bell 


dell 


fell 


sell 


shell 


Nell 


well 


tell 







Lesson 41. Teach the combination br from broke. 
Blend brand, bran, brain, bring, and brad. 

Lesson 42. Teach the combination cr from crown. 
Blend crop, crack, and crow. 

Lesson 43. Teach the family ame from came. Blend 



ame 


tame shame 


name 


came 


lame fame 


blame 


game 


same flame 


dame 


Lesson 44. 


From the word it, blend 




it 


hit fit 


pit 


bit 


wit flit 


slit 


sit 







PHONICS 



85 



Lesson 45. Teach the combination wh and the family 
en from when. Blend whip, why, whack. Blend 



en 

when 

hen 



den 

then 

ten 



Ben 

men 



pen 
glen 



Lesson 46. Teach the family aw from saw. Blend 



aw 

saw 

caw 



jaw 
law 



flaw 
raw 



paw 
draw 



Lesson 47. From the word ate, blend 



ate 

gate 

hate 



late 

Kate 

skate 



fate 
date 
erate 



rate 

plate 

grate 



Lesson 48. Teach the family og from dog. Blend 



og 
cog 



hog 
flog 



clog 
log 



fog 
frog 



Lesson 49. Teach the family ow from cow. Blend 

mow 



ow 
cow 



how 
bow 



now 
brow 



Blend crown, town, down, gown, clown, drotvn, brown, 
and frown. 



Lesson 50. Teach the sound of ave from gave. Blend 



ave 


save 


wave 


rave 


gave 


shave 


pave 


grave 


cave 


stave 


brave 


crave 



66 EASY ROAD TO BEADING 

Lesson 51. Teach the family oat from goat. Blend 

oat coat float moat 

goat boat 

Lesson 52. Teach the family ar from far. Blend 



ar 


car 


jar 


tar 


far 


scar 


bar 


char 


star 


mar 







Lesson 53. Teach the combination gr from grass. 
Blend grip, grain, grill, gray, grate, and grow. 
Lesson 54. From the word eat, blend 



eat 


treat 


beat 


bleat 


heat 


neat 


seat 


wheat 


meat 


cheat 







Lesson 55. Teach the family ut from but. Blend 

ut cut hut nut 

but rut shut 



Lesson 56. Teach the family ake from make. Blend 



ake 


take 


rake 


shake 


make 


lake 


wake 


flake 


cake 


bake 


sake 





Lesson 57. Teach the family ew from flew. Blend 



ew 


chew 


clew 


crew 


mew 


flew 


blew 


drew 


new 


few 


pew 





PHONICS 



87 



Lesson 58. Teach the combination fr from from. 
Blend frill, fry, free, fret, frail, frame, fray, and frog. 
Lesson 59. Teach the family eed from seed. Blend 

eed seed weed need 

reed steed deed bleed 

heed feed greed breed 



Lesson 60, 

eep 
weep 



Teach the family eep from peep. Blend 

keep deep peep 

sheep creep 



Lesson 61. Teach the combination cl and family uck 
from cluck. Blend clamp, clip, cling, clear, clay, clad, 
cleiv, clan, claw, and clog. Blend 

uck duck luck stuck 

cluck truck suck buck 

struck tuck 



Lesson 62. 

old 

told 

cold 

Lesson 63. 

ed 

led 

Ted 



Teach the family old from told. Blend 

bold mold hold 

sold fold scold 
gold 

Teach the family ed from led. Blend 

fled fed shed 

Ned sled Fred 
bed 



Lesson 64. Blend 



out 
shout 



pout 
spout 



sprout 
stout 



trout 



The Sounds of the Vowels 

The short sound of the vowels may be taught from 
at, et, it, ot, and nt. 



88 EASY EOAD TO BEADING 

The class will learn the long sounds of the vowels 
easily, as they are the same as the names of the letters. 
No diacritical marks should be used at this stage of the 
work. They mar the image of the word and will be found 
unnecessary when a class is well drilled in phonograms 
(families). 

Some Phonic Rules 

(a) It is easy after thorough drill on families to 
have the children discriminate between the long and 
short sounds of the vowels, and they may even be taught 
to call them long sounds and short sounds. After suit- 
able lists are presented they may be easily led to see the 
effect of the silent e at the end of a monosyllable, even 
though they do not state it in a formal rule. Lists like 
the following furnish excellent drill. 

pin pine hop hope 

fin fine mop mope 

tin tine lop lope 

win wine 

din dine 



Exceptions to this rule, like love, have, etc., should 
be taught as sight words. 

(b) • The likeness in sound between the two combi- 
nations ai and ay and their identity in sound with long a 
may be taught from the following lists : 



at 


ate 


bit 


bite 


mat 


mate 


kit 


kite 


hat 


hate 


spit 


spite 


pat 


pate 






rat 


rate 






plat 


plate 







may 


mail 


ray 


rain 


say 


sail 


stay 


stain 


hay 


hail 


may 


main 


pay 


pail 


gray 


grain 


ray 


rail 


pay 


pain 



PHONICS 89 

(c) The identity of the sound ea with long e may be 
shown from the following : 

* read beam 

plead dream 

bead seam 

stream 



eat 


ear 


mean 


real 


meat 


hear 


lean 


meal 


seat 


dear 


clean 


deal 


heat 


near 


bean 


heal 


cheat 


spear 




peal 


treat 


shear 






neat 


rear 







(d) The likeness between oa and long o may be seen 

in the following : 

goat road oar 

float load soar 

boat goad roar 

moat toad 

It will not be found difficult at this time to teach the 
sound of s like z. It may be called the "buzzing" sound 
to distinguish it from the hissing sound. It should be 
taught orally, with no appeal to the eye, for the intro- 
duction of marks at this early stage is undesirable. 

Give the word boy. Ask the class what word to use 
w T hen more than one boy is meant. Sound boys, pro- 
long the last sound. Ask class to sound. Ask the same 
question for toy, girl, curl, pin, oar, seed, jaw, and each 
time have the class or individuals sound the whole word, 
then the last sound. When this sound occurs in any word 
later, simply refer to it as the "buzzing" sound until 
such time as the distinguishing diacritical mark is intro- 
duced. 

* It is also true that ea has the same sound as short e in some words, 
but this need not be brought up at this time. 



90 



EASY KOAD TO READING 



Learning the Names of the Letters 

When the pupils begin writing, they should learn the 
names of the letters in connection with their sounds. For 
example, when writing the letter c, tell them its name and 
compare it with the printed form. Then ask them what 
c says. They will tell you that c says ■€. Give them fre- 
quent drills on the names of the letters and their sounds. 
The same plan should be followed in writing the families, 
that is, they should learn that u-n says un, etc. They will 
very quickly learn the letters of the alphabet by follow- 
ing this plan, and it is a good preparation for the spell- 
ing lessons later on in the year. 



Phonic Summary 

Single Consonant Sounds Combinations of Consonants 



c— come 
g— go 
r— run 
3— jump 
h— hop 
w— we 
t-to 
m— me 
1— like 
b— boy 
y— you 
k— kitty 
s— see 
f— for 
n— not 
d— day 
p— pail 



sk— skip 
sh— she 
st— stop 
fl-.ny 
fr— from 
tr— tree 
th— that 
gl— glad 
gr— grass 
ch— children 
cr — crown 
cl— cluck 
bl— blow 
br— broke 
pi— play 
wh— when 





PHONICS 






Families 




un— run 


ad — glad 


ake— make 


ump— jump 


ood — good 


ew — flew 


op— hop 


ow — blow 


eed— seed 


ip— skip 


et— get 


eep— peep 


oy— boy 


ail— pail 


uck— cluck 


an— can 


ame— came 


old— told 


ain— rain 


ell- fell 


ed— led 


ing— sing 


en — when 


and 


ill-will 


aw— saw 


out 


ee— tree 


og— dog 


in 


aek— Jack 


ow — cow 


all 


ong— song 


ave— gave 


it 


ear— hear 


oat— goat 


at 


ot— not 


ar— far 


ate 


ay— day 


ut— but 


eat 



91 



The long and short sounds (without marks) of a, e, i, 
o, and u, the long sound of y, and the two sounds of s 
(without marks) have also been taught. 

First Reader Phonics 

When the class begins reading in the First Reader, 
drill on the phonics already taught should be continued, 
and, wherever possible, this knowledge should be used in 
mastering the new words. 

For instance, on pages 7-11 of the First Reader there 
are twenty-three new words introduced. Of these, eleven 
can be pronounced by the child through the sounds he 
has already learned in the Primer phonics. 

strong, through the family ong, and the prefixing, one at 
a time, of the known consonant sounds, r and st. 
fun, through the family un and the consonant /. 
meat, through the family eat, and the consonant m. 



92 



EASY ROAD TO READING 



bark, through the consonant b, the family ar, and the 
consonant k. 

fear, through the family ear and the consonant /. 

crying, through the word cry and the family ing, 

stopped, through the family op, the consonant combina- 
tion st, and the substitution of consonant t for ped 
st-op-(ped) t. 

grow, through the family ow and the consonant combi- 
nation gr. 

getting, through the family et, the consonant g, and the 
family ing (g-et-(t)ing). 

too, through the word to (to (o)). 

red, through the family ed and the consonant r. 

The remaining words of the First Eeader which can 
be mastered by the child from his knowledge of phonics 
obtained from the Primer work follow. The silent let- 
ters may be enclosed in parenthesis just long enough to 
get the pronunciation of the word, then these marks 
should be erased. Another way to show silent letters is 
to draw a light line through them, but this is not so easily 
erased. 



going 


go-ing 


sheep 


sh-eep 


leaving 


1-ea-v-ing 


sell 


s-ell 


young 


y-(o)un-g 


bow 


b-ow 


got 


g-ot 


strings 


s-t-r-ing-s 


new- 


n-ew 


cakes 


c-ake-s 


grown 


gr-ow-n 


hung 


h-un-g 


started 


st-ar-t-ed 


black 


bl-ack 


let 


1-et 


cut 


c-ut 


stand 


st-and 


sharp 


sh-ar-p 


knew 


(k)n-ew 


yellow 


y-ell-ow 


sleep 


sl-eep 


crowed 


cr-ow(e)d 





PHONICS 




dark 


d-ar-k 


town 


t-ow-n 


sat 


s-at 


fellow 


f-ell-ow 


sun 


s-un 


hopped 


hop(ped)t 


trip 


tr-ip 


gray 


gr-ay 


wait 


w-ai-t 


know 


(k)n-ow 


than 


th-an 


man 


m-an 


grow 


gr-ow 


seen 


s-ee-n 


please 


pl-ea-s(e) 


hunting 


h-un-t-ing 


back 


b-ack 


small 


s-m-all 


grew 


gr-ew 


wood 


w-ood 


crow 


cr-ow 


paw 


p-aw 


cheese 


ch-ee-s(e) 


bent 


b-en-t 


show 


sh-ow 


frowned 


f-r-ow-n-(e)d 


running 


run-(n)ing 


hard 


h-ar-d 


swing 


s-w-ing 


stood 


st-ood 


wall 


w-all 


chopping 


ch-op-(p)ing 


till 


t-ill 


chop 


ch-op 


cattle 


c-at-(t)l(e) 


snail 


s-n-ail 


garden 


g-ar-d-(e)n 


taken 


t-ake-n 


green 


gr-ee-n 


speed 


sp-eed 


brown 


br-ow-n 


called 


c-all-(e)d 


flying 


fly-ing 


sends 


s-en-d-s 


slow 


sl-ow 


swayed 


s-w-ay-(e)d 


beat 


b-eat 


window 


w-in-d-ow 


tails 


t-ail-s 


straight 


st-r-ai-(gh)t 


take 


t-ake 


tall 


t-all 


killing 


k-ill-ing 


seemed 


s-ee-m-(e)d 


played 


play(e)d 


name 


n-ame 


pen 


p-en 


lying 


1-y-ing 


still 


st-ill 


planted 


pl-an-t-ed 


spring 


s-p-r-ing 


jar 


j-ar 


ten 


t-en 


each 


ea-ch 


standing 


st-and-ing 


plant 


pl-an-t 


sitting 


s-it-(t)ing 


bell 


b-ell 


late 


1-ate 


fills 


f-ill-s 


playing 


play-ing 


bend 


b-en-d 


slipped 


sl-ip-(ped)t 


lame 


1-ame 



93 



94 



EASY ROAD TO READING 



bill 


b-ill 


neat 


n-eat 


wing 


w-ing 


hopping 


hop-(p)ing 


clean 


cl-ea-n 


trotting 


tr-pt-(t)ing 


shake 


sh-ake 


grunted 


gr-un-t-ed 


bring 


br-ing 


ball 


b-all 


drown 


d-r-ow-n 


ring 


r-ing 


now 


n-ow 


fallen 


f-all- (e)n 


hot 


h-ot 


drink 


dr-in-k 


fall 


f-all 


deep 


d-eep 


killed 


k-ill(e)d 


bean 


b-ea-n 


top 


t-op 


dew 


d-ew 


steeple 


st-ee-pl(e) 







The child should never separate a family after he has 
once learned it, and should always utter a combination 
together. 

The method followed in teaching the sounds in the 
First Eeader should be that of the Primer: Teach the 
sound, whether of consonant combination or family, from 
a word already familiar both to ear and eye. 

The following families and blend words are sugges- 
tive only. Others may be supplemented or substituted. 



Key 


Family 


OR 




Word 


Combin. 


iTioN Blend Words 


strong 


str 




string, strip, strain, stray, strew 


find 


ind 




wind, rind, bind, find, grind, blind, hind, 
mind 


bark 


ark 




shark, spark 


did 


id 




bid, hid, rid, lid 


twig 


ig 




pig, big, rig, wig, sprig, fig, gig 


dresses 


dr 




drop, drill, drip, dray, drain, draw, drew 


thought 


ought 




ought, bought, sought 


spade 


sp 




spill, spin, spat, spit, spout, speed 




ade 




made, trade, grade, wade 



PHONICS 



95 



Key Family or 

Word Combination 

think ink 

th 

side ide 

right ight 

just ust 

him im 

brook ook 

swing sw 

air air 

child ild 

hare are 

slow si 

very v 

race ace 

line ine 



fast (1) 


ast 


trick (2) 


ick 


dive 


ive 


fish 


ish 


leg 


eg 


clean 


ean 


fire 


ire 


white 


ite 


rest 


est 


noise 


oi 


ox 


ox 


more 


ore 



queer 



qu 



Blend Words 

sink, mink, rink, link, pink, wink, drink 

thin, thing, thump, thought 

hide, wide, ride, tide, bride, pride 

might, bright, light, sight, night, plight, tight, 

fight, flight 
must, rust, trust, dust, gust, crust 
rim, dim, whim, trim 
book, look, hook, nook, rook 
sway, swell, swill, sweep, swim 
fair, pair, hair, chair, lair 
wild, mild 
fare, rare, ware, mare, bare, dare, care, glare, 

flare, stare, share 
slay, slack, sling, slip, slim, slain, slave, sleep 
vim, van, vat, vail, vow 
ace, pace, race, face, lace, place, space, trace, 

brace 
dine, wine, mine, nine, pine, tine, thine, shine, 

fine, swine 
mast, past, last, vast 
pick, nick, kick, sick, tick, thick, prick, lick, 

wick, chick 
five, live, strive, hive, drive 
wish, dish 
peg, beg, keg 
lean, mean, bean, wean 
mire, tire, wire, hire, spire 
mite, bite, smite 

nest, vest, best, west, pest, lest, chest 
boil, oil, toil, spoil, foil 
fox, box 
core, bore, store, chore, tore, wore, fore, 

shore 
quite, quill, quell, quest, quack, quail, quake, 

quit 



96 



EASY ROAD TO BEADING 



Key 


Family or 


Word 


Combination 


or 


or 


small 


sm 


drove 


ove 


bent 


ent i 


gold 


old 1 


sank 


ank 1 


cap 


ap ] 



smaller er (3) 



Blend Words 

for, nor 

smell, smut, smite 

stove, grove, wove, rove, cove, dove 

sent, tent, lent, rent, dent, spent, went 

bold, cold, gold, hold, mold, told 

tank, thank, rank, bank, lank, blank 

lap, map, nap, strap, sap, rap, tap, clap, 

trap, chap 
taller, larger, master, rooster, longer, order, 

sicker, slipper, duster, bolder, colder 

Care 



(1) The correct sound of a in this word is a. 
should be taken that it is not changed to a. 

(2) It is very easy to get the children to sound this 
word without the final s, After the ick family is well 
known, get them to add s to pick, prick, wick, and the like. 
Also to other words to form plurals. 

(3) Practice adding er to words already known. 



Key 


Family or 


Word 


Combination 


shone 


one 


feel 


eel 


nice 


ice 


hope 


ope 


felt 


elt 


each 


each 


shoot 


oot 


bend 


end 


ugly 


llg 




ly (4) 


should 


ould 


fur 


ur 



Blend Words 

tone, lone, stone, bone 

heel, peel, reel, steel 

rice, lice, mice, spice, price 

mope, rope, dope, hope 

melt, belt, pelt, welt 

teach, peach, reach, beach, preach 

hoot, boot, toot, soot 

lend, mend, send, tend, rend, slender 

tug, lug, mug, pug, dug, rug, plug, hug, bug* 

sadly, hardly, nicely, sharply, largely, 

shortly, slowly 
could, would 
curl, church 









PHONICS 


Key 


Family 


OR 




Word 


Combination Blend Words 


dance 


ance 




chance, prance, lance 


pool 


ool 




fool, stool, spool, cool, tool 


moon 


oon 




noon, soon, spoon 


die 


ie 




tie, pie, lie 


snail 


sn 




snow, snip, snake, snare 


while 


ile 




pile, mile, smile 



97 



(4) Much practice should be given in adding this 
syllable to the adjectives and nouns which the children 
already know. 

SECOND READER PHONICS 

After completing the phonic work of the Primer and 
First Reader, and a sufficient number of families is 
known, combined with their knowledge of consonants and 
consonant combinations, to enable the children to mas- 
ter most of the new words of the Second Reader, no fur- 
ther class instruction in phonics would be necessary were 
it not that the use of the dictionary must be taught. This 
necessitates the learning, at this stage, of some of the 
diacritical marks. 

Prevalence of Long and Short Vowel Sounds 

The long and short sounds of the vowels are already 
known. It remains only to represent them to the eye, 
that is, to learn the diacritical marks that distinguish 
them. 

If the teacher is thoroughly familiar with vowel equiv- 
alents, a surprisingly large number of the new words can 
be mastered with the knowledge of no other markings 



98 EASY ROAD TO READING 

than the breve and macron. For instance, of the four 
new words in the first lesson of the Second Reader, three 
have the long sound of the vowel. Of the six new words 
in the next lesson, four have the short sound, one the 
long sound, and in the sixth, something, the sound of o 
is equivalent to the sound of u. On the next three pages, 
there are thirteen new words. Of these, seven have the 
long sound of the vowel and six the short sound. 

From these illustrations, it is easily seen that to pro- 
nounce these twenty-three words, the children need to 
learn only one new thing. The word not having the long 
or short sound of its vowel is heart. They already know 
the sound of a in this word, for they have had it in the 
family ar, but they need to learn its diacritical mark, a, 
in order to distinguish it in future words from the other 
sounds of the same vowel. 

Occasional Vowel Sounds 

The few vowel sounds that can not be represented by 
the substitution of some long or short sound are a, a, a, 
a, and e. 

The teaching of these sounds and of the markings for 
the long and short sounds constitute the phonic work of 
the Second Reader. 

Suggestive Lesson for Teaching the Macron and the Breve 

Place the following list of words on the board : 

can cane 

pan pane 

man mane 

ban bane 



PHONICS 99 

Point to can and ask to have it pronounced; point to 
an (the family), and have it pronounced. 

Then cover the n, and ask for the remaining sound. 

Do the same with each of the other words in this col- 
umn, being careful that each child is able to give clearly 
the short sound of a. 

Follow the same method with cane. 

Then write a on the board and ask for the sound. Some 
will give a and some a. (This will show the necessity for 
some mark to distinguish the sounds.) 

Tell the class that the a when sounded like that in can 
is marked thus, a. When sounded like that in cane, it is 
marked thus, a. 

Dkill : 

1. Point to the a in the words in either column pro- 
miscuouslv and ask for the sound. 

2. Write the representations of the two sounds on 
the board promiscuously and give drill, — 

a a a a a a 

a a a a 

a 

3. Unlock new words, — sham, shame, plan, plane, 
came, wane, lane, slam. 

4. Find the known words in the reading lesson which 
have these sounds. 

5. Call for lists of words which have the sound of 
long a. Of short a. 

Teach the markings of the long and short sounds of 
the other vowels in the same way. 



100 EASY ROAD TO READING 

A Type-lesson for Teaching the Occasional Sounds 

The sound of a. 

Preparation : 

Eapid oral review of the sounds of r, m, f, h, b, ch, n, 
y, t, a, and a. 

Presentation : 

1. Ask questions that will bring the following words 
as answers, and place them on the board : 

arm farm bar mar 

harm barn or far tar 

charm yarn 

2. Have these pronounced until all are familiar with 
them. 

3. Point to a in the first word, and ask for that sound 
alone. (At this stage, probably most of the class can 
separate this sound. If not, the teacher should give it 
and require it to be imitated until it is well known.) 

4. Place the letter a alone upon the board and ask 
for its sound. (This may bring a, a, or the new sound for 
an answer, thus showing the necessity for another mark 
to distinguish the different sounds.) 

5. Mark the a in arm thus, a,, and require this sound 
many times. 

Drill : 

1. Write promiscuously upon the board,— 

a a a a 

a a a 

a a a 

a a 

and drill until there is ready recognition and utterance. 



PHONICS 101 

2. Call for words having the sound of a, then a, 
then a. 

3. Place on the board a list of known words having 
the three sounds, and have them spelled by sound. 

4. Give words containing these sounds which are in 
their spoken vocabulary, but the written or printed forms 
of which are unfamiliar, — snatch, hammer, plane, path, 
cart, — mark them, and have them pronounced. 

Suggestive Lists for the Other Sounds 



a 


a 


*a 


*e 


ask 


all 


air 


her 


mask 


ball 


hair 


earth 


task 


call 


fair 


heard 


past 


fall 


pair 


earn 


fast 


tall 


chair 


learn 


dance 









WORD BUILDING 

It will be found very profitable to build words by add- 
ing syllables, as was suggested in the First Reader work 
for ing, er, and ly. This work may be extended to in- 
clude 
est 

s or es (to form plurals) 
ed (both letters sounded, making an additional syllable, 

— sound, sounded) 
ed (e silent, d sounded with root, — drown, drowned) 
ed (sounded like t, — prick, pricked) 
en 
ish 

* It is better to teach these sounds with the r following. 



CHAPTER VII 
SEAT WORK 

(Correlated with Reading) 

Seat work or, as it is sometimes called, busy work, 
should be planned with as much care as any other part of 
the day's program. Too often it is considered just a 
means of occupying the time of one division of the class 
while another is reciting, without regard to the valuable 
use that may be made of this period. It is not enough 
for a child to be busy, his effort must be spent in ways 
which count for growth. 

Careful assignment of seat work is necessary if good 
results are to be obtained. As everything is new and 
strange to the child just entering school, more time will 
be required for this in the beginning of the year than 
later on. 

One of the first forms of seat work associated with the 
work in reading is the finding of the letter c after the 
sound of the letter has been taught from the word come. 

Each child should be provided with a box of assorted 
letters. The teacher prints a large C on the board. This 
may be done with ordinary crayon, but color appeals to 
the child and a letter made with yellow crayon will be 
appreciated. The class is directed to find as many c's 
as possible. All children do not readily associate the 
small letter found in the box with the one made on the 
board, so the first time this is done it will be necessary 

102 



SEAT WORK 103 

for the teacher to help each child find one letter so that 
he will know just what is expected of him. 

She should then tell the class that when thev have 

*/ 

finished their work she is going to count the letters and 
see who has found the most. This w T ill create a spirit of 
competition that will result in each child's doing his best 
work. The teacher should never fail to examine the work 
done by each child and to praise the best work. Appre- 
ciation of good work rather than criticism of poor will 
be found the best policy in dealing with little children. 
This creates a much happier atmosphere in the school 
room. This plan should be followed with each letter 
after the sound has been taught, and use should be made 
of each family taught in the same wav. 

%J O *j 

For example, the word run is used to teach the sound 
of r and the family un. One day the class should find 
the letter r and the next day the family un. As this 
necessitates the combining of two letters for the first 
time, care should be taken that each child knows the 
letters that form the family. For this reason it will be 
necessary for the teacher to go around the class and 
place the u and n together on each desk. She should call 
their attention to the capital letter on the reverse side, 
showing them the open space at the top of the letter u, 
so that they will place the letters correctly. This can be 
done very quickly and there will be little chance of incor- 
rect forms being made. In a very short time the class 
will need no assistance and the only time required of 
the teacher will be for the distribution of material and 
inspection of the w T ork when it is completed. 

By this time they will be familiar with the forms of 
the letters and can build words, then easy sentences. 



104 EASY ROAD TO BEADING 

Whenever a new sight word is taught, a sentence for seat 
work that includes this word combined with words 
already familiar should be planned, with the new word 
underscored. Attention should be called to the large 
letter used in the beginning of a sentence and the punc- 
tuation mark at the end. Both the period and the ques- 
tion mark should be used and the comma when necessary. 

Make use of the rhymes in the same way. Print the 
rhyme on the board, or better still, provide each child 
with a copy of the rhyme card and designate the rhyme 
which the children are to build from the letter cards. 

When a sufficient number of consonant sounds and 
families have been taught, word lists should be made. 
These groups of family words may be printed on the 
board or charts may be made of stiff manila paper and 
the words printed upon them. These lists afford splen- 
did material for seat work, since each time the child 
forms the word he not only becomes more familiar with 
it, but he is also gaining a knowledge of the combination 
of letters into words which will make the work in spelling 
much easier later on in the year. 

When the names of the letters have been taught, as 
previously suggested for both the script and print forms, 
they may write the words from the printed forms on the 
board. 

A good plan for combining the seat work with the 
spelling lesson is as follows : 

The teacher writes a family on the board. Let us 
suppose she chooses the ight family. Of course the chil- 
dren are familiar with a number of words belonging to 
this family, as they have named them many times in 
building word lists and in their games. She then calls 



SEAT WOEK 105 

for the name of the family, which will be readily given. 
The children then name each letter as she points to it 
and again give the name of the family. This may be 
done by several children individually and then they are 
ready to study the family. Two or three minutes is suffi- 
cient time for this and then different children may be 
called upon to name the letters without looking at the 
family. This may be done by a number of children in 
a very short time. The teacher then calls for words be- 
longing to this family and these are named and spelled 
by different children. Suppose that the first word given 
is the word night. They have already learned that the 
letter n has the sound with which the word night begins, 
and find no difficulty in spelling the word. The teacher 
prints each word on the board as it is given, and from 
this printed list the children write the words. The more 
formal spelling lessons in the second and third grades 
will be found much more satisfactory if this plan is con- 
scientiously carried out in the last half of the first year, 
and the same plan, modified to some extent, used in these 
grades. 

SEAT WORK 

(CoEEELATED WITH CoLOE AND FoEM WoEK) 

Colored tablets in the form of circles and squares 
may be obtained from any firm dealing in kindergarten 
supplies. These tablets make interesting seat work and 
are a means of teaching primary colors. 

On strips of cardboard about 8"x2", paste tablets rep- 
resenting the six colors. On some of the cards place six 
circles; on others six squares, on others circles and 
squares alternating. Make enough of these cards to sup- 



106 



EASY ROAD TO READING 



ply the largest division of the class, and, in a correspond- 
ing number of boxes, place six squares and six circles of 
each color. Each child is given a box and card and 
directed to place six rows of tablets on his desk exactly 
like those on his card. "When examining the work, ask 
different children to name the colors. 

Sometimes let them make original designs with the 
tablets. 

When they know the written names of the colors, 
place six cards, having the names of the colors written on 
them, in each box. Have the children place the circles 
and squares of each color below the card on which the 
name of the color is written. 

Another device which involves the use of color is the 
making of borders and designs with colored sticks. The 
borders illustrated are simple and effective. 




SEAT WORK 107 

Stick laying needs little guidance from the teacher. 
At first the designs must necessarily be copied, but after 
becoming acquainted with the material and character of 
designs used, the interest for new designs is awakened 
in the children and they take great pleasure in creating 
original designs, especially if their power of observation 
has been stimulated. Let them illustrate the story of 
Columbus by laying the design of the three ships, and 
follow this by the story of the Indians, in connection 
with which they may lay the design of the wigwam and 
the canoe, and so on. In November they will enjoy mak- 
ing the early homes of the Pilgrims, their first church, 
the tall hat, the cradle and other designs suggested by 
the story. 

The Three Bears is a splendid story to illustrate with 
the sticks. First they lay the stick to form the bear's 
house in the woods. Then they make the three bowls, 
the three chairs, and the three beds. 

It is supposed that the resourceful teacher will have 
many ideas of her own to add to these suggestions. 

Whatever form of seat work is used, it must always 
be kept in mind that nothing spurs the child on to better 
work like the appreciation of good work or honest effort. 

SEAT WORK 

(Correlated with Numbers) 

In making plans for seat work one of the most impor- 
tant elements to consider is that the children need variety 
during the day. As this often presents difficulties for 
the young teacher, some plans for seat work not corre- 
lated with the work in reading are suggested. 



108 EASY KOAD TO READING 

Boxes of assorted numbers should be among the sup- 
plies found in every primary room. There are many 
ways in which these may be used to advantage in connec- 
tion with the number lessons. One day have the class 
find all the l's possible, another day all the 2's. Then 
let them find l's and 2's. Then let them find l's and 2's 
placing them in rows. After they have found 3's they 
are ready to place rows of l's, 2's, and 3's on their desks. 
Use this plan with numbers up to 10. 

Always insist upon the numbers or letters being 
placed in order. It is so unnecessary for incorrect habits 
of work to be formed, and nearly all children take pleas- 
ure in doing their best work — if it is appreciated. 

Later on, as different combinations are taught, let the 
children form these combinations with the assorted num- 
bers, finding the answer as with the written numbers : for 
instance, 2 + 1 = 3. Either place a row of combinations 
on the board or give each child a card having the com- 
binations written or hektographed upon it. These cards 
will be found very convenient if board space is limited. 
They can be quickly distributed by one of the children. 

Dominoes also afford splendid material for seat work. 
These may be purchased, or they can be easily hekto- 
graphed on stiff paper. In hektographing the dominoes, 
it will be found more satisfactory to make a small circle 
instead of the solid dot. 

The regular dominoes are double, 
like the illustration, but for seat work 
they should be cut in two. Place several 
domino cards of each number in a box. 

In the beginning let the class find all the squares con- 
taining one dot, then those having two, and so on, as with 




SEAT WORK 



109 



the assorted numbers. Sometimes give the class squares 
and let them trace around them and make dominoes on 
paper. They like to do this, and, incidentally, are learn- 
ing the shape of the square. They may also write the 
number under the domino representing it. 

In connection with the writing of numbers, one scheme 
that the children enjoy is to trace around a circle and 
then write the number within the circle they have made. 

Later on, when the combinations are being taught, 
let them find the dominoes that say 1 + 2 = 3, and so on. 
Another time have them make the dominoes that repre- 
sent the numbers in each combination, and write the cor- 
responding number below as illustrated: 




3 + 2 = 5 

The same cards that were suggested for use with the 
sorted numbers may be used in this connection. 

Large domino cards representing the numbers from 
one to ten will be found very convenient. These cards 
should be about 8"x8" and may be made of heavy paper 
and the dots, or circles, made with black crayola. A hole 
should be punched in the top of each card so they can 
be hung on small hooks, which should be placed where 
the cards can be easilv seen. 



Use of Words Printed on Cards 

All words in the Easy Road to Reading Primer and 
First Reader (complete vocabulary) will be printed on 



110 EASY ROAD TO READING 

ruled card board — so that the separate words can be 
cut out for use in seat work. 

Have pupils cut out the separate words from these 
ruled cards and use them for building sentences. Every 
pupil should be supplied with these ruled cards contain- 
ing the vocabulary of the Primer and First Reader. 

The sentence building exercises with these separate 
words should be a profitable and interesting practice and 
will prove helpful. 



CHAPTER VIII 

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO USE THE 
ACTION WORDS, RHYMES, AND PICTURES 

Action Words 

All the early lessons in the Primer are based on action 
words. The symbols representing these action words are 
more easily taught to beginners than those representing 
words which can not be demonstrated in a way calculated 
to arouse continued interest. Every action word in the 
early lessons of the Easy Road, to Reading Primer is 
capable of wide demonstration. A great number of addi- 
tional sentences can be made up, based on the simple 
action w^ords whose symbols we are trying to have the 
pupil readily recognize as sight words. As explained in 
the first part of this manual, the action words can be 
best taught by the use of the story. They can be drama- 
tized as explained in the chapter on dramatization, and 
they can be taught phonetically. The use of the story 
and dramatization will be largely practiced at first to 
teach beginners these simple action words. The work 
in Phonics as outlined will be introduced and practiced 
as early as possible. The plan is to make the best pos- 
sible use — in the right order — of the three devices ; viz., 
story telling, dramatization, and phonics, in teaching the 
symbols of reading to beginners. 

ill 



112 EASY ROAD TO BEADING 

The Rhyme 

The rhyme represents the accelerated action of the 
children in their playful activities. Accelerated and 
rhythmic action results in harmonious movement. 
Children like rhymes and rhythm and consequently the 
rhyme furnishes a convenient and proper method of 
introducing new words. It is an interesting way to 
teach children the new words, since they are interested 
in the rhyme. The plan is to have every child in the 
class memorize each rhyme in the order in which it comes. 
This will not be difficult — but the practice should con- 
tinue until the teacher is certain that any rhyme passed 
over can be readily recalled. Since practically all new 
words in the early lessons are found in the rhymes, the 
children really have in their possession every word which 
they encounter in the reading lessons which follow these 
rhymes. They, however, will have to be frequently re- 
minded of this fact. They may be able to repeat over 
and over again the rhyme 

"Come and hop 
And jump today, 
We like to run 
And skip and play," 

and yet when they encounter the word i ' like " in a differ- 
ent setting — in a new sentence — they may not know it. 
The teacher in such case should not tell them the word, 
but should suggest to them that they have already had 
the word and should know it. If they can not recall 
it, they should be sent back over the lessons they have 
had until they find the word. Naturally the children 



ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS 113 

will soon discover for themselves that practically all the 
new words come in these rhymes. Of course the teacher 
should tell them this and practice making up additional 
sentences from the words and phrases in the rhymes until 
she is quite sure that they can readily recognize and call 
every word in the rhyme. Then the succeeding reading 
lessons will be easy. 

Another reason why the rhyme furnishes a good 
method for introducing the new words is that it helps 
pupils to help themselves. They must be taught from 
the start that the teacher will not do for them what they 
can do for themselves. Consequently when they meet a 
new word and can not call it, they should be required to 
go back over the rhymes until they find it, as previously 
explained. The action words in the early lessons in the 
Primer which are capable of being demonstrated by hav- 
ing the children perform the actions, are repeated in the 
rhymes. The rhyme is early introduced and used until 
sufficient phonic power is acquired by the members of the 
class to render its longer use unnecessary and undesirable. 

There is danger in using the rhyme too long. The 
work in phonics should take the place of the rhyme as 
soon as practicable. 

All the rhymes are printed on cards and numbered so 
that pupils can readily refer to them when they encounter 
new words which they can not call. It was the purpose 
of the authors of the Easy Road to Reading to make a 
legitimate and proper use of the rhyme. They consider 
this use to be what is outlined in this manual. The fact 
that new words can be introduced from the start in their 
true sentence relation by means of rhymes, and the fact 
that pupils can be taught to do effective work from the 



114 EASY EOAD TO HEADING 

start in discovering new words for themselves, justify 
the rhyme as a means of introducing new words. 

The Pictures 

The pictures in the Easy Road to Beading course are 
unsurpassed for the purpose for which they are used. 
They are thought inspiring. They tell a story. Every 
pupil should be taught to tell the story which the picture 
tells. This practice cannot be too strongly emphasized. 
It develops language power. It furnishes a splendid 
exercise in making proper estimates, in cultivating the 
initiative. 

Have each pupil in turn tell the class what story he 
or she thinks the picture tells. Have them practice at 
their seats reproducing the picture. Of course this will 
be crude, but the practice stimulates thought. Continue 
to study and talk about the picture until the pupil's 
interest is aroused to such an extent that he wants to 
begin reading the story which the picture really tells. 



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